Trade  and  Industries 


of  the 

Far  Eastern  Republic 


Published  by 

The  Special  Delegation  of  the  Far  Eastern  Republic 
to  the  United  States  of  America 

Washington,  D.  C. 

1922 


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^OASTI 

I 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 


► 


s—s. 


i 


Introduction 
Chapter  I. 

II. 

III. 

IV. 
V. 


VI. 

VII. 

VIII. 


Geographical  Position  and  Administrative  Division 

Area  . 

Climate  . 

Population  . . . 

Means  of  Communication  . 

1)  Railroads  . 

2)  River  Transportation  . 

3)  Highways  . 

4)  Ports  and  Harbors  . 

Agriculture  . 

Apiculture  . 

Cattle  Breeding  . 


IX.  Industries  of  the  Far  Eastern  Republic . 

1)  The  Zabaikal  and  Pribakal  Provinces..  . 

2)  The  Amur  Province  . 

3)  The  Maritime  and  Priamur  Provinces.... 

X.  Exports  and  Imports . 

1)  Trade  with  Japan  . 

2)  Trade  with  China  . 

3)  Trade  with  the  United  States  of  America 

4)  Summary  . 

XI.  The  Prospects  of  the  Far  Eastern  Republic . 

XII.  The  Cooperates  of  the  Far  Eastern  Republic . 


5 

9 

10 

11 

12 

15 

15 

25 

32 

38 

42 

55 

56 
61 
63 
69 
72 
75 
81 
85 
88 
96 

101 

105 


INTRODUCTION 


Up  to  the  present  time  there  still  exists  in  the  mind  of  the 
average  foreigner  the  unfounded  idea  of  Siberia  and  the  Rus¬ 
sian  Far  East  as  being  buried  under  eternal  snow,  and  popu¬ 
lated  mostly  by  half  civilized  wandering  tribes  or  ex-Russian 
convicts.  To  his  imagination  Siberia  is  the  last  place  safe  for 
travelling  let  alone  the  risking  of  an  investment  of  consider¬ 
able  capital  for  the  development  of  industries  there. 

The  old  Czarist  Government  which  regarded  Siberia  as 
a  safe  and  spacious  asylum  for  political  offenders,  and  which 
was  never  interested  in  the  proper  development  of  the  vast 
natural  resources  of  the  country,  has  done  nothing  to  enlighten 
the  foreign  nations  regarding  the  splendid  healthful  climate 
of  the  country,  with  its  untouched  stretches  of  fir,  pine,  and 
birch  forests,  its  numerous  rivers  and  streams  and  mineral 
springs,  its  green  meadows  catching  the  traveler’s  eye  for 
thousands  of  miles,  and  last,  but  not  least,  its  untold  wealth 
buried  in  the  ground.  The  great  opportunities  in  agriculture, 
cattle  raising,  mining,  and  other  industries  are  known  only 
to  a  few  foreign  newspaper  men  and  commercial  representa¬ 
tives  and  those  who  have  visited  the  country. 

The  Far  Eastern  Republic,  the  present  rightful  sovereign 
of  the  Russian  Far  East,  is  sincerely  desirous  of  affording  all 
possible  facilities  for  the  application  of  foreign  capital  in  the 
development  of  the  country’s  wealth.  It  therefore  intends  to 
give  its  utmost  attention  to  the  problem  of  supplying  the  busi¬ 
ness  world  with  available  data  of  the  mineral,  forest,  fishing 
and  other  resources  of  the  Republic. 


THE  FOUNDATION  OF  THE  FAR  EASTERN  REPUBLIC. 


After  the  defeat  of  the  Kolchak  army  in  western  Siberia 
in  the  winter  of  1919-20,  the  rule  of  the  Omsk  Government  was 
overthrown  in  many  cities  of  the  Far  East  and  revolutionary 
Governments  established  instead. 

Being  at  the  time  absolutely  isolated  from  Soviet  Russia, 
their  territory  occupied  by  foreign  expeditionary  troops,  con¬ 
fronted  by  the  constant  danger  of  counter-revolutionary  plots 
which  were  aided  by  foreign  aggressors,  the  people  of  the 
Russian  Far  East  which  has  always  been  removed  from  the 
centre  by  great  distances,  naturally  had  to  depend  upon  them¬ 
selves  for  protection;  hence  the  general  (movement  towards 
the  organization  of  an  independent  government.  Thus  ap¬ 
peared  the  Vladivostok  Zemstvo  Government,  and  almost  si¬ 
multaneously  the  Amur  and  Verkhneudinsk  Governments. 
All  these  Governments  had  one  aim — the  unification  of  the  Rus¬ 
sian  Far  East  into  an  independent  democratic  state  which  could 
protect  its  people  against  all  emergencies.  On  the  6th  of  April, 
1920,  the  declaration  of  independence  took  place  in  Verkhne¬ 
udinsk,  and  on  the  14th  of  May,  the  Far  Eastern  Republic  was 
recognized  by  Soviet  Russia. 

The  process  of  unification  of  the  Far  Eastern  provinces 
went  further  on  in  spite  of  the  innumerable  difficulties  created 
by  the  interventionist  troops  (Japanese). 

In  September  a  preliminary  conference  of  representatives 
of  all  Far  Eastern  Governments  was  convened  in  Verkhneu¬ 
dinsk,  and  after  the  expulsion  of  the  counterrevolutionary 
Ataman  Semenoff  from  Chita,  which  was  the  result  of  the  evac¬ 
uation  of  that  territory  by  the  Japanese  troops,  a  final  confer¬ 
ence  took  place  in  Chita,  where  the  unification  of  all  the  prov¬ 
inces  and  governments  was  completed.  On  the  9th  of  Novem¬ 
ber  the  Chita  conference  confirmed  the  declaration  of  inde¬ 
pendence,  promulgated  laws  for  the  calling  of  a  Constituent 


6 


Assembly,  and  elected  a  Provisional  Central  Government.  Dur¬ 
ing  December  and  January  of  1921,  the  elections  of  the  As¬ 
sembly,  which  were  conducted  according  to  universal  suffrage, 
took  place.  The  Constituent  Assembly  was  composed  of  over 
400  members,  mostly  non-partisan  peasants.  The  Assembly 
went  into  session  on  the  12th  of  February,  and  on  the  27th  of 
April  the  final  draft  of  the  Constitution  was  adopted,  and  a  new 
Government  was  elected.  The  efforts  of  this  new  and  regu¬ 
larly  elected  Government  were  primarily  directed  toward  the 
election  of  new  local  authorities  for  the  whole  Far  Eastern 
Republic.  Elections  soon  took  place,  and  district,  country, 
and  provincial  assemblies  and  administrative  authorities  as¬ 
sumed  control  over  the  various  parts  of  the  Republic.  This 
important  task  accomplished,  the  Government  of  the  Far  East¬ 
ern  Republic  directed  its  energies  toward  the  establishment  of 
conditions  which  would  ensure  prosperity  to  trade  and  industry. 
Much  has  already  been  accomplished  in  this  respect,  but 
still  more  may  be  expected  with  the  complete  liberation  of  those 
parts  of  the  territory  of  the  Far  Eastern  Republic  which  are 
occupied  by  the  Japanese. 


7 


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CHAPTER  I. 


GEOGRAPHICAL  POSITION  AND  ADMINISTRATIVE 

DIVISION, 

The  Far  Eastern  Republic  is  situated  between  the  101°40' 
and  141°40'  East  Longitude,  and  57°  and  42°  North  Latitude. 
The  position  of  the  respective  provinces  relative  to  Soviet 
Russia  is  as  follows:  The  Zabaikal  region  (Zabaikal  and  Pri- 
baikal  Provinces),  between  49°41'  and  57°  North  Latitude; 
the  Amur  Province  between  47°  and  56°;  and  the  Maritime 
Province  between  42°  and  530  North  Latitude. 

The  boundaries  of  the  Republic  are  the  River  Selenga  and 
Lake  Baikal  on  the  west,  the  Yakutsk  Province  (belonging  to 
Soviet  Siberia),  and  the  Madjelinda  Cape  on  the  Sea  of  Okhotsk 
on  the  north;  the  Sea  of  Okhotsk,  the  Sea  of  Japan  on  the  east; 
and  Manchuria  and  Mongolia  on  the  south. 

The  Far  Eastern  Republic  is  divided  into  five  administrative 
centers  (provinces) :  Pribaikal,  Zabaikal,  Amur,  Priam ur  and 
Maritime.  The  administrative  center  of  the  Pribaikal  Province 
is  the  city  of  Verkhneudinsk  on  the  Trans-Siberian  Railroad 
of  Zabaikal — Chita,  on  the  same  railroad,  which  is  also  the 
capital  of  the  Far  Eastern  Republic;  of  Amur  —  Blagovesh¬ 
chensk,  on  the  Amur  River;  of  Priamur — Khabarovsk,  also  on 
the  Amur  River;  of  Maritime — Vladivostok,  the  principal  com¬ 
mercial  port  of  the  Republic. 


9 


CHAPTER  II. 

AREA. 


The  total  area  of  the  Republic  equals  1,690,568  square  kilo¬ 
meters,  divided  among  the  respective  provinces  as  follows: 

Province  Area  in  Square  Kilometers 

Pribaikal  .  165,462 

Zabaikal  .  396,004 

Amur  .  400,917 

Priamur  (including  Russian  Saghalien) 

and  Maritime .  728,185 

Thus,  the  area  occupied  by  the  Far  Eastern  Republic  is 
one-seventh  of  that  of  the  whole  of  Siberia,  and  about  one- 
thirteenth  of  the  whole  of  pre-revolutionary  Russia.  The  ter¬ 
ritory  of  France,  Spain  and  Germany  combined  is  less  than  the 
area  now  occupied  by  the  Far  Eastern  Republic. 


10 


CHAPTER  III. 


CLIMATE. 

The  climate  of  the  Far  Eastern  Republic  varies  greatly  in 
the  various  parts  of  the  country.  The  Zabaikal  Province  is 
distinguished  by  its  dry  continental  climate,  cold  winters  and 
comparatively  hot  summers.  The  nights  and  mornings  during 
the  summer  months  are,  however,  cool  and  refreshing.  The 
atmospheric  mioisture  is  very  small.  Spring  does  not  begin 
before  the  latter  part  of  April  and  vegetation  begins  to  show 
signs  of  life  in  May.  The  climate  of  the  Maritime  and  Amur 
Provinces  is  rather  cold.  This  is  explained  by  the  proximity  of 
the  Okhotsk  Sea  and  the  prevailing  north,  northeastern  and 
northwestern  cold  winds.  The  climatic  conditions  of  the  inter¬ 
ior  of  the  country,  which  is  protected  by  mountain  ridges,  are 
considerably  milder  and  generally  more  favorable.  The  at¬ 
mospheric  moisture  is  considerably  greater  than  in  the  Zabaikal 
Province.  Vladivostok,  although  situated  0.75°  higher  than  the 
city  of  Nice  and  2.5°  lower  than  the  city  of  Venice,  differs 
greatly  from  them  in  climate.  The  weather  is  cold  and  usually 
accompanied  by  more  or  less  severe  northeast  winds.  The  ther¬ 
mometer  reaches  as  low  as  minus  25-30  degrees  Centigrade. 
Spring  weather  is  rather  cold.  Beginning  with  April,  fogs  and 
rains  are  rather  frequent.  The  summer  temperature  goes  up 
to  plus  25-30  degrees  Centigrade.  The  best  season  is  autumn, 
beginning  in  August  and  lasting  till  the  end  of  October.  The 
days  then  are  sunny  and  warm. 


11 


CHAPTER  IV. 


POPULATION. 

The  greater  part  of  the  Russian  population  of  the  Far  East¬ 
ern  Republic  is  the  peasantry  from  the  southern  provinces  of 
European  Russia,  which  had  emigrated  to  the  Russian  Far  East 
because  of  the  shortage  of  land  (most  of  the  land  was  in  the 
hands  of  the  land  owners).  Some  of  the  peasants,  belonging 
to  various  religious  sects,  so-called  “Sectants,”  emigrated  with 
their  families  because  of  religious  persecution  by  the  Czarist 
Government.  A  considerable  part  of  the  population  is  com¬ 
posed  of  Cossacks,  who  are  living  in  the  Amur  (Amur  Cossacks) 
Zabaikal  (Zabaikal  Cossacks),  and  Maritime  (Ussuri  Cossacks, 
who  were  formerly  part  of  the  Amur  Cossacks  but  who  formed 
a  separate  group  in  1889)  Provinces.  The  following  table 
gives  the  population  in  round  figures  according  to  the  Provinces. 


Population  by  Provinces 
(round  figures) 


Province 

Rural  Population 

Urban  Population 

Total 

Pribaikal) 

.  .  .  .  675,000 

223,000 

898,000 

Zabaikal )  *  ‘ ' 

Amur  . 

.  .  .  .  242,000 

158,000 

400,000 

Maritime  ) 

.  .  .  .  436,000 

296,000 

732,000 

Priamur* ) 

Totals  .  . 

.  .  .  .  1,353,000 

677,000 

2,030,000 

At  the  present  time  the  population  is  more  than 

two  mil- 

lion  because  of  the  large  number  of  refugees  from  Russia,  in¬ 
cluding  the  former  Kolchak  army  which  arrived  from  Russia 

♦The  Russian  half  of  the  Island  of  Saghalien  is  included  in  the  Priamur 
Province.  It»  population  is  18,900. 


12 


during  and  towards  the  end  of  the  civil  war.  The  refugees 
flocked  mainly  to  the  cities.  The  city  of  Vladivostok,  partic¬ 
ularly,  which  according  to  the  statistics  of  1917  had  a  populo- 
tion  of  151,000,  increased  its  population.  At  the  present  time 
the  population  of  Vladivostok  greatly  exceeds  that  of  1917. 

In  the  total  figure  given  for  the  population  of  the  Zabaikal 
Province  (including  the  Pribaikal  Province),  there  are  included 
101,000  Buriats  and  Mongols,  who  are  living  in  this  territory 
and  are  enjoying  wide  national  cultural  autonomy  in  accord¬ 
ance  with  the  Constitution  of  the  Republic.  In  the  population 
of  the  Amur  Province  are  included  9,500  Giliaks  and  other  small 
tribes. 

The  approximate  numbers  of  Chinese,  Koreans  and  Japan¬ 
ese  who  reside  in  various  parts  of  the  territory  of  the  Far  East¬ 
ern  Republic  are  as  follows: 


Location 

Chinese 

Koreans 

Japanese 

Vladivostok  . 

.  .  39,187 

4,180 

3,668 

(Maritime  Province) 
Rural  Communities  . 

5,468 

36,235 

(Maritime  Province) 
Blagoveshchensk  . 

4,513 

306 

10 

(Amur  Province) 


In  the  Zabaikal  and  Pribaikal  Provinces  there  are  over 
25,000  Chinese  and  Koreans,  principally  Chinese. 

Considering  the  vastness  of  the  territory,  the  population  of 
the  Far  Eastern  Republic  is  very  small.  The  Far  Eastern  Re¬ 
public  can  accomodate  at  least  five  times  as  many  people  as 
live  there  at  the  present  time.  This  increase  in  population  can 
undoubtedly  be  effected  by  a  well  organized  policy  of  coloni¬ 
zation,  by  transporting  part  of  the  peasant  population  of  Rus¬ 
sia, particularly  from  Ukraine.  The  density  of  the  population 
of  the  Zabaikal  and  Pribaikal  Provinces  is  four  per  square  mile; 
of  the  Amur  Province,  2.5  per  square  mile;  and  of  the  Maritime 
and  Priamur  Provinces  (including  Russian  Saghalien),  2.6  per 
square  mile.  The  density  of  the  Maritime  Province  alone  is 
considerably  greater.  The  Priamur  Province  is  very  sparsely 
populated. 

As  is  evident  from  these  figures,  the  rural  population  of 
the  Far  Eastern  Republic  is  more  than  65  per  cent  of  the  total 


13 


population  of  the  Republic.  The  total  number  of  populated 
centers  of  the  rural  population  in  the  Republic  is  2,919.  They 
are  distributed  as  follows: 


Province  Number  of  Centers 

Pribaikal .  634 

Zabaikal .  809 

Amur .  725 

Maritime  and  Priamur .  751 


14 


CHAPTER  V. 


MEANS  OF  COMMUNICATION. 

1— RAILROADS. 

The  railroads  of  the  Russian  Far  East  have  been  system¬ 
atically  subjected  to  destruction  for  almbst  three  years.  Civil 
war,  originally  fanned  by  foreign  intervention  in  general,  and 
later,  after  the  departure  of  foreign  troops  in  1920,  particularly 
by  the  Japanese,  inevitably  reflected  upon  the  condition  of  rail¬ 
road  transportation.  The  tracks,  bridges,  and  other  railroad 
appurtenances,  were  dynamited.  Many  of  the  wooden  bridges 
and  buildings  were  burned  down.  Only  after  the  departure 
of  the  Japanese  troops  from  the  territory  of  the  Amur,  the  Pri- 
baikal  and  the  Zabaikal,  and  part  of  the  Priamur  Province, 
and  after  the  driving  out  of  the  Semenoff  and  Kolchak  bands 
which  followed  the  withdrawal  of  the  Japanese  troops,  could 
the  reorganization  of  transportation  begin. 

The  Far  Eastern  Republic  inherited  from  the  Russian  Em¬ 
pire  the  following  railroads: 

1.  — The  Amur  Railroad — running  from  Station  Karims- 
kaya  on  the  Chita  railroad  to  the  city  of  Khabarovsk — 1,254 
miles  (a  branch  of  62  miles  connects  this  railway  with  the  city 
of  Blagoveshchensk). 

2.  — The  Chita  Railroad — conencting  the  Trans-Siberian 
with  the  Chinese  Eastern  and  the  Amur  Railroads — 648  miles 
long. 

3.  — The  Ussuri  Railroad — 555  miles  long,  connecting  Kha¬ 
barovsk  with  the  cities  of  Nikolsk  and  VladivostoTc  (a  branch  of 
48  miles  connects  the  Suchan  coal  mines  with  the  city  of  Vla¬ 
divostok.) 

4.  — The  Sretensk  Railroad — running  from  Station  Karims- 
kaya  on  the  Chita  Railroad  to  the  City  of  Sretensk  on  the  nav- 


15 


igable  River  Shilka — 168  miles.  The  city  of  Nerchinsk  is  con¬ 
nected  with  this  railway  by  a  branch  railway  of  6  miles  long. 

THE  AMUR  RAILROAD. 

The  Amur  Railroad,  all  of  which  is  on  Russian  territory, 
was  built  for  strategic  purposes  in  view  of  the  fact  that  the 
Chinese  Eastern  Railroad  (from  Station  Manchuria  to  Station 
Pogranichnaya,  925  miles,  and  from  Harbin  to  Kuanchendzy 
148  miles),  which  connects  two  parts  of  Russian  territory  which 
are  separated  by  Manchuria,  is  built  on  foreign  (Chinese)  ter¬ 
ritory.  The  Chinese  Eastern  Railway,  although  it  is  a  Russian 
railway,  and  of  as  great  importance  to  Russia  at  the  present 
time  as  in  the  pre-revolutionary  period,  and  also  of  great  im¬ 
portance  to  the  Far  Eastern  Republic,  cannot  be  so  dependable 
as  a  railroad  which  is  built  entirely  on  Russian  territory.  The 
Amur  Railway,  which  fulfills  these  requirements,  unfortunately 
was  not  fully  completed  at  the  time  the  world  war  began.  It 
is  still  unfinished,  although  it  has  been  in  use  for  several  years. 

The  Amur  Railroad,  which  passes  through  a  very  fertile 
part  of  the  Amur  Province,  rich  in  natural  resources  (gold,  etc), 
[must  play  a  great  part  in  the  development  of  the  country,  but 
it  requires  a  considerable  expenditure  before  it  can  be  brought 
into  proper  condition  so  as  to  be  operated  successfully.  The 
railroad  stretches  from  Kuenga  to  Khabarovsk,  1,254  miles, 
and  has  192  miles  of  branch  lines  connecting  it  with  the  harbors 
of  the  Amur  River.  During  the  civil  war,  the  road  suffered 
greatly.  419  wooden  and  9  steel  bridges  were  destroyed. 
Among  the  latter  was  the  greatest  bridge  in  Siberia,  the  Alex- 
eevsk  Bridge,  which  crosses  the  Amur  River  at  Khabarovsk. 
Two  of  its  spans,  420  feet  each,  have  been  blown  up.  A  ferry 
is  being  used  temporarily,  until  the  bridge  will  be  repaired.  In 
the  winter  the  rails  are  laid  on  the  ice  of  the  river,  and  trains 
are  drawn  by  special,  small  engines.  Among  other  bridges  that 
require  much  repairs  may  be  mentioned  the  bridge  across  the 
river  Tom,  770  feet  long,  and  a  bridge  840  feet  long  across  the 
River  Arkhara. 

The  water  supply  on  the  Amur  Railroad  is  not  in  a  satis¬ 
factory  condition.  Of  the  47  water  tanks  only  11  have  been 
fully  completed. 


16 


The  shops  and  depots  which  have  been  built  on  ground 
which  is  eternally  frozen,  and  on  a  stretch  of  700  versts  of  rail¬ 
road,  are  not  in  a  satisfactory  condition.  At  the  present  time, 
except  in  emergency  cases,  not  more  than  two  trains,  one  each 
way,  per  week  travel  in  the  district  of  Kuenga — Jtiochkarevo — 
Blagoveshchensk,  and  to  Khabarovsk  not  more  than  four  trains 
daily,  two  trains  each  way. 

Theoretically  the  carrying  capacity  of  the  road,  according 
to  the  conditions  of  the  road  bed  and  the  water  supply  in  the 
[majority  of  the  districts,  is  not  more  than  four  trains  per  day, 
two  trains  in  each  direction.  In  urgent  cases,  however,  as, 
for  instance,  for  military  purposes  in  connection  with  Japanese 
occupation  in  the  Maritime  Province,  it  was  necessary  at  times 
to  dispatch  a  greater  number  of  trains,  which  was  managed, 
although  with  difficulty. 

THE  CHITA  RAILROAD. 

The  Chita  Railroad  has  a  double  track  from  Junction  Mos¬ 
tovoy  to  Junction  Kitaisky,  431  miles,  and  a  single  track  from 
Junction  Kitaisky  to  Manchuria,  226  miles,  and  to  Sretensk  160 
miles.  During  the  civil  war,  98  wooden  bridges  and  36  steel 
bridges  were  burned  down  or  dynamited.  Some  of  these  bridges 
have  been  restored  entirely  and  some  by  temporary  wooden 
structures,  The  carrying  capacity  of  the  road  in  general  may 
be  estimated  as  24  trains  per  day,  12  each  way. 

At  the  present  time,  although  the  road  is  not  operated 
fully,  it  has  greatly  improved  and  is  still  improving  daily.  Pas¬ 
senger  trains  cover  the  distance  from  Station  Manchuria  to 
Chita  in  16  hours,  which  almost  equals  the  pre-war  speed. 

THE  USSURI  RAILROAD. 

The  Ussuri  Railroad  was  in  a  better  condition  because  of 
its  assured  supplies.  It  has  been  aided  a  great  deal  by  the  In¬ 
ter-Allied  Railway  Committee,  but  the  fact  that  the  principal 
part  of  the  railroad  is  in  the  zone  of  Japanese  occupation,  and 
because  of  the  constant  Japanese  military  activities,  its  condi¬ 
tion  is  made  conisderably  worse.  The  population,  which  has 
become  embittered  because  of  the  cruelties  and  violences  of 


17 


the  Japanese  and  the  bands  of  Semenoff  and  Kolchak  soldiers 
who  are  supported  by  the  Japanese,  has  been  compelled  in  the 
because  of  the  constant  Japanese  military  activities,  its  condi- 
damage  it  considerably.  The  Japanese  do  not  permit  a  single 
car  or  locomotive  outside  of  the  zone  of  their  occupation,  thus 
carrying  their  domination  of  a  foreign  country  to  the  extreme. 


ROLLING  STOCK. 

On  the  15th  of  December,  1920,  the  number  of  locomotives 
and  cars  in  the  depots  was  as  follows: 


No.  of 

No.  of 

Railroad 

Locomotives 

Cars 

Amur  . 

.  169 

2,809 

Chita  . 

.  279 

4,315 

Ussuri  . 

.  220 

4,713 

Total.  . 

.  668 

11,837 

Part  of  these  locomotives  and  cars  was  in  need  of  repairs. 

Since  that  time  conditions  improved  only  on  the  Chita 
Railroad  where  the  work  of  repairing  the  locomotives  and  cars 
has  been  organized  satisfactorily.  Some  locomotives  and  cars 
were  also  received  from  the  Chinese  Eastern  Railway  and  from 
Russia.  At  the  end  of  1921  the  number  of  cars  on  the  Chita 
Railroad  had  reached  8,000;  that  on  the  Amur — 3,700.  The  num¬ 
ber  of  locomotives  on  the  Chita  Railroad  was  at  that  time  over 
300.  The  telegraph  system  of  the  railroads  is  more  or  less  sa¬ 
tisfactory,  although  not  what  it  ought  to  be. 

The  railroads  need  parts  of  locomotives,  babbit  metal,  iron, 
various  pipes,  wire,  tires,  graphite,  lighting  and  oiling  materials. 

CARRYING  CAPACITY  OF  THE  RAILROADS. 

Some  idea  of  the  capacity  of  the  Chita,  Amur  and  Ussuri 
Railroads,  and  their  work,  can  be  had  from  the  following  table, 
given  for  three  months  in  1921. 


18 


Loaded  and  Shipped 


_ a _ _ N 

Railroad  Average  Number  of  Average  Number  of 

Cars  per  Day  Cars  per  Month 

July  .  118  2,959 

Chita — August  .  134.5  3,381 

September  .  170.2  4,255 

July  .  59  1,468 

Amur — August  .  74  1,849 

September  .  41  416 

July  .  66  1,981 

Ussuri — August  .  67.3  2,020 

September  .  40  1,200 


Totals  .  770  19,529 


Remark:  The  capacity  of  a  freight  car  is  1,000  poods,  or  about 
17  tons. 

In  pre-war  years  the  Chinese  Eastern  Railroad  shipped 
over  the  Ussuri  Railroad  to  Vladivostok  about  30-40,000,000 
poods  of  beans  and  grain  annually. 

It  must  be  noted  that  the  Ussuri  Railroad  began  to  resume 
its  activities  very  satisfactorily  in  1921,  under  the  rule  of  the 
Par  Eastern  Republic,  and  only  the  overturn  of  May  26th,  1921, 
in  Vladivostok,  which  was  organized  by  the  Japanese  With  the 
aid  of  the  remnants  of  Semenoff  and  Kolchak  armies,  armed  by 
the  Japanese,  interfered  with  this  work. 

This  fact  is  clearly  evident  from  the  following  figures: 
from  January  1st  to  June  30th,  1921,  the  total  number  of  cars 
arriving  in  Vladivostok  from  Station  Pogranichnaya  (on  the 
frontier  of  Manchuria)  was  14,000,  an  average  of  2,333  cars  per 
month.  During  March  the  number  of  cars  was  521;  during 
April — 3,122;  and  during  May — 5,484.  After  that  date  (i.  e., 
after  the  overturn  of  May  26th),  there  is  a  decrease  in  the  num¬ 
ber  of  cars,  as  is  evident  from  the  table  shown  above  (Ussuri 
Railroad). 

The  table  given  below  gives  additional  figures  about  the 
work  of  the  Chita  and  Amur  Railroads. 


19 


Total  Work  of  Roads  in  Loading  and  Receiving 
from  Neighboring  Roads 


During  One  Month 


Railroad 

Month 

A 

Average 
Per  Day 

1921 

Cars  Loaded 

“A 

Cars  Rec’d 

Total 

July  . 

2,959 

1,422 

4,381 

175 

Chita — 

August  . 

3,381 

1,325 

4,706 

188 

September  . 

4,255 

748 

5,003 

200 

July  . 

1,468 

240 

1,708 

68 

Amur — 

August  . 

1,849 

620 

2,469 

98 

Sept.  (10  days) . 

416 

516 

932 

93 

July  . 

1,662 

6,089 

243 

Totals 

August  . 

5,230 

1,945 

7,175 

286 

September  . 

4,671 

1,264 

5,935 

293 

Comparing  these  figures  with  those  of  the  past  years, 
as  shown  in  the  table  below,  a  considerable  decrease  in  the  rail¬ 
road  transportation  becomes  clearly  evident.  But  this  decrease 
is  easily  explained  if  political  conditions  of  the  country  during 
the  last  few  years  are  taken  into  consideration,  and  also  the 
fact  that  the  country  has  been  separated  from  Russia  and  the 
Russian  markets. 

Pre-War  Capacity  of  the  Railroads 

Railroad 


Year  Ussuri  Chita 

in  short  tons  per  year 

1912  . ....  953,532  381,055 

1913  .  1,554,109  424,089 

1914  .  1,421,878  306,531 


Transportation  of  Manchurian  beans  on  the  Ussuri  Rail¬ 
road  played  an  important  part  in  the  sum  total  of  its  freight. 
A  general  idea  of  the  character  and  quantity  of  the  freight 
carried  on  the  Ussuri  Railroad  prior  to  the  war  and  prior  to  the 
country  being  cut  off  from  Russia,  i.  e.,  normal  tim;es,  can  be 
seen  from  the  figures  for  1913. 


20 


Transported  in  1913  on  the  Ussuri  Railroad 

Article  Quantity 

(in  tons) 

Beans  .  374,472 

Wheat  .  73,566 

Oats  .  42,102 

Millet  .  8,136 

Goalen  .  2,916 

Buckwheat  .  4,392 

Barley  .  2,520 

Linseed  .  16,794 

Wheat  flour  .  25,974 

Oil  Cakes  . 21,492 

Straw  .  3,726 

Hay  .  22,014 


Total  agricultural  products .  598,104 

Board  Lumber  .  82,566 

Other  Lumber  .  68,832 

Wood  .  99,666 


Total  lumber  and  wood .  251,064 

Coal  .  217,674 

Rails  .  22,500 

Railroad  equipment .  3,852 

Concrete  .  73,152 

Cement  .  29,502 

Lime  .  12,114 

Asphalt  .  1,872 

Bricks  .  23,850 


Total  building  material .  166,842 

Fish  .  11,923 

Caviar  . • .  4,907 

Salt  .  59,076 


Total  salt  and  fish .  75,906 

21 


Article  Quantity 

(in  tons) 

Tea  .  71,640 

Rice  .  7,668 

Canned  goods  .  3,420 

Iron  .  9,216 

Tin  plate  .  3,690 

Iron  Manufactures .  9,720 

Agricultural  implements .  8,226 

Kerosene  .  5,130 

Various  machinery  .  2,664 

Soda  .  2,124 

Meat  .  7,074 

Cabbage  .  5,976 

Potatoes  .  7,290 

Apples  .  2,718 

Sugar  .  5,724 

Bottles  .  8,240 

Others .  85,345 


Total  miscellaneous .  172,879 


GRAND  TOTAL .  1,554,109 

The  percentage  of  the  various  products  is  as  follows: 
Article  Percentage 

(of  entire  shipment) 

Beans  .  24 

Other  agricultural  products .  14 

Lumber  and  wood .  16 

Coal  .  14 

Building  material  (except  lumber) .  11 

Fish  and  salt .  5 

Tea  .  4 

All  other  .  12 


Manchuria  with  its  annual  crop  of  over  5,000,000  tons  is 
a  constant  source  of  freight  for  the  Ussuri  Railroad  for  trans¬ 
portation  to  the  port  of  Vladivostok,  and,  morever,  during  the 


22 


summer  months  it  provided  freight  for  ships  going  from  the 
River  Sungari  (Harbin)  along  the  Amur  to  Port  Nikolaevsk  (on 
the  Amur).  During  the  year  1914,  the  Ussuri  Railroad  car¬ 
ried  from  Manchuria  387,341  short  tons,  of  which  341,276  were 
beans.  In  1915  it  carried  508,964  tons,  of  which  422,329  tons 
were  beans.  During  nine  months,  January  to  September  1921, 
19,467,036  poods,  or  324,450  tons,  were  carried,  which  makes 
a  total  per  year  of  434,600  tons. 

Some  idea  about  the  character  and  quantity  of  freight 
carried  by  the  Chita  Railroad  to  the  Zabaikal  Province  can  be 
had  from  the  following  table  giving  figures  for  about  three 
months  in  1921. 


TABLE  OF  FREIGHT  CARS  RECEIVED  AND  DISPATCHED  BY  THE  CHITA 
RAILROAD  FROM  JULY  1st  TO  SEPTEMBER  21st,  1921 
AND  KIND  OF  FREIGHT 


Station  Manchuria 


Station  Missovaya 


Received 


Dispatched 


Received 


Dispatched 


Kind  of 
Freight 

A 

A 

A 

/ 

July 

Aug. 

Sept. 

t 

July 

Aug. 

Sept. 

f  -\  r  ^ 

July  Aug.  Sept.  July  Aug.  Sept 

Grain  Prod. 

34 

115 

130 

18  . . 

6  ..  .. 

Lighting 

Materials 

32 

5  ..  .. 

Sugar 

. . . 

2 

6 

3 

Cereals 

. . . 

2 

6 

5 

Groceries 

. . . 

10 

9 

17 

Tea 

. . . 

3 

3 

. . . 

1  ..  .. 

2  .. 

Rails 

, . . 

6 

. . . 

•  .  . 

12 

Iron 

. . . 

•  .  . 

3 

•  .  . 

2 

Copper 

. . . 

•  .  . 

. . . 

4 

Min.  Coal 

34 

84 

10 

Charcoal 

1 

1 

Wood  for  fuel 

44 

39 

11 

•  .  . 

•  .  • 

•  .  • 

7  ..  .. 

Machine 

parts 

12 

Sleepers 

(ties) 

2 

3 

Lumber 

Materials 

2 

5 

6 

1 

Salt 

• . . 

. . . 

. . . 

. . . 

. . . 

•  .  • 

70  . .  . . 

Freight  cars 

22 

1 

69 

23 


Station  Manchuria  Station  Missovaya 

_ A _ ^  f _ A _ _ ^ 

Received  Dispatched  Received  Dispatched 

Kind  of  a.  _ ^  a.  t _ k _ v  f—  -A. 

Freight  July  Aug.  Sept.  July  Aug.  Sept.  July  Aug.  Sept.  July  Aug.  Sept. 


freight 

. . . 

. . . 

. . . 

. . . 

. . . 

141  . 

.  ..  45 

. . 

School  books 

•  .  . 

. . . 

. . . 

. . . 

3 

18  . 

Soap 

. . . 

. . . 

. . . 

2 

Bristle 

. . . 

. . . 

. . . 

5 

Lime 

. . . 

. . . 

. . . 

. . . 

6  . 

Furs 

Tobacco 

... 

3 

Tob.  Prod. 

. . . 

•  .  . 

•  .  . 

7 

1 

Varia 

8 

3 

22 

23 

23 

33 

9  . 

.  ..  20 

. . 

Fish 

... 

. . . 

. . . 

5 

2 

Live  stock 

1 

. . . 

. . . 

5 

Fats 

. . . 

. . . 

. . . 

5 

1 

Paper 

Various 

... 

... 

... 

4 

... 

2 

Materials 

4 

. . . 

. . . 

34 

15 

4 

67  . 

.  ..  6 

. . 

TOTAL 

Freight 

118 

136 

127 

195 

198 

212 

342  . 

.  ..  79 

. . 

NUMBER  OF  RAILROAD  EMPLOYES, 

In  connection  with  the  general  difficult  financial  situation, 
due  principally  to  Japanese  intervention  in  the  Russian  Par 
East,  the  number  of  railroad  employees  had  to  be  decreased 
considerably.  This  decrease  was  accomplished  gradually  in 
1921,  as  is  evident  from  the  following  table: 


Railroad  or 

Department  _ 

Jan.  1st 


Ministry  of  Transportation 

(Central  Department)  ....  339 

Chita  .  16,818 

Amur  .  9,284 

Ussuri  .  11,845 

Dept,  of  River  Navigation  and 
Dept,  of  Highways .  5,459 


TOTAL  .  43,745 


Nupiber  of  Employees 


A_ 


May  1st 

July  1st 

Oct.  1st 

305 

311 

234 

16,219 

13,042 

11,627 

9,284 

8,400 

4,575 

11,625 

3,000 

2,350 

5,459 

4,893 

3,000 

42,89 2 

29,646 

21,792 

24 


There  was  a  small  decrease  after  October  as  well.  The 
considerable  decrease  in  the  number  of  the  railroad  employees 
from  May  to  July  on  the  Ussuri  Railroad  does  not  mean  an  ac¬ 
tual  decrease  but  the  cutting  off  of  a  part  of  the  railroad  from 
the  control  of  the  Far  Eastern  Republic.  After  the  Japanese 
overturn  on  May  26th,  in  Vladivostok,  part  or  the  Ussuri  Rail¬ 
road  frotai  Vladivostok  to  Station  Evgenievka  and  from  Ni- 
kolsk  to  Station  Pogranichnaya  (i.  e.  zone  of  Japanese  occu¬ 
pation)  remained  in  the  hands  of  the  Japanese.  Thus  the  ac¬ 
tual  decrease  of  employees  took  place  only  in  a  part  of  the  Us¬ 
suri  railroad  which  is  under  the  control  of  the  Far  Eastern  Re¬ 
public,  i.  e.,  from  Stations  Evgenievka  to  Khabarovsk. 

THE  FUTURE  OF  THE  FAR  EASTERN  REPUBLIC 
RAILROADS. 

Speaking  of  the  problem  of  the  future  of  the  railroads  of 
the  Far  Eastern  Republic,  it  is  necessary  to  state  that  in  spite 
of  the  present  very  difficult  conditions,  improvement  is  quite 
evident  in  the  repairs  of  the  road  beds,  convenience  of  passen¬ 
ger  traffic,  speed,  etc.  The  necessity  for  the  Manchurian  pro¬ 
ducts  to  find  a  carrier  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  vast  Siberian 
and  Russian  markets  on  the  other,  in  themselves  hold  out  a 
promising  future  for  the  railroads  of  the  Far  Eastern  Republic. 
As  a  result  of  the  industrial  development  of  the  Far  Eastern 
Republic,  connected  with  the  development  of  its  vast  natural 
resources,  a  great  future  for  the  railroads  of  the  Far  Eastern 
Republic  is  assured. 

The  development  of  the  natural  resources  makes  impera¬ 
tive  the  building  of  new  railroads.  For  instance,  plans  are 
being  made  to  connect  St.  Olga  Bay  with  the  Ussuri  Railroad 
as  there  are  tremendous  quantities  of  iron  ore  in  the  district. 
It  is  also  being  planned  to  connect  Khabarovsk  with  the  Imperial 
Harbor  as  there  are  immense  forest  resources  there,  and  it  is  a 
very  good  outlet  to  the  ocean;  and  to  connect  Nikolaevsk  on 
the  Amur  and  De  Kastri  with  Alexeevsk  on  the  Amur  Railroad. 

2.— RIVER  TRANSPORTATION. 

The  great  length  of  the  river  Amur  and  its  tributaries,  and 
the  fact  it  is  navigable  not  less  than  six  months  in  the  year, 


25 


rrtake  it  of  extreme  importance  in  the  economic  life  and  develop¬ 
ment  of  the  Par  Eastern  Republic. 

The  total  distance  of  all  rivers  suitable  for  navigation  pur¬ 
poses  is  14,000  miles.  The  investigated  navigable  part  is  about 
4,500  miles.  The  following  table  shows  the  navigable  distance 
of  the  respective  rivers. 

THE  AMUR  RIVER  AND  ITS  AFFLUENTS 
lhvcr  Navigable  Distance  (in  miles) 


Amur  .  1,800 

Shilka  .  250 

Argun  . 280 

Zeya  .  466 

Selemdzha  .  220 

Bureya  .  290 

Amgun  .  270 

Ussuri  .  320 


3,896 


Selenga  .  420 

Total .  4,336 


The  depth  of  the  Amur  River  between  Khabarovsk  and 
Nikolaevsk  is  not  less  than  10  feet;  between  Khabarovsk  and 
Blagoveshchensk — 4%-6  feet;  between  Blagoveshchensk  and 
Sretensk  down  to  3  y2  feet.  Five  dredges  are  maintaining  a 
navigable  depth  on  the  various  sand  bars  of  the  above  rivers. 

The  principal  river  harbors  of  the  Amur  River  are  as  fol¬ 
lows:  Blagoveshchensk,  Alexeevsk,  Sretensk,  Zeya-Pristan, 
Dzhalinda,  Khabarovsk  and  Nikolaevsk. 

The  principal  water  artery  of  the  Republic,  the  Amur  River, 
flows  at  a  considerable  distance  along  the  railroad,  and  through 
its  connections  with  the  railroad  by  trunk  lines  serves  as  a 
means  of  transportation  for  freight  coming  from  the  ports  of 
the  Pacific  Ocean  to  the  Russian  Far  East  and  Russia.  The 
A^rnur  River  thus  plays  the  part  of  a  second  track  of  the  rail¬ 
road,  supplementing  the  single  track  of  the  Amur  and  Ussuri 
Railroads  and  making  its  capacity  equal  to  the  general  carry¬ 
ing  capacity  of  the  double  track,  Zabaikal  Railroad. 


26 


The  mouth  of  the  Amur  River  gives  a  second  outlet  for  this 
combined  route  to  the  sea  at  the  Nikolaevsk  Port.  The  Amur 
River,  as  well  as  the  railroads,  serves  as  the  principal  route 
for  the  movement  of  the  freight  of  the  Republic. 

The  tributaries  of  the  Amur,  Rivers  Zeya  and  Bureya,  and 
also  the  tributary  of  Zeya — Selemdzha,  run  perpendicularly 
across  the  province  from  one  border  line  to  the  opposite  one, 
and  thus  provide  secondary  river  routes.  Tertiary  branchings 
of  these  tributaries  cut  across  the  entire  province  and  open 
accesses  to  its  mineral  wealth. 

The  first  steamer  appeared  on  the  Amur  River  and  the 
Shilka  River  in  1854.  In  1911,  according  to  the  statistics  of 
the  Department  of  Water  Routes,  the  Amur  Merchant  Fleet  had 
in  navigation  that  year  523  ships,  the  tonnage  of  which  was 
6,813,930  poods  (113,565  tons).  The  fleet  was  composed  as 


follows : 

Kind  of  Ship  Iron  Wood  Tonnage 

(poods) 

Steamer  .  96  92  1,171,220 

Barge  .  162  115  5,635,100 

Tug  Boats  .  21  15  2,040 

Motor  Boats  .  9  13  5,570 


The  horse  power  of  the  176  power  ships  was  44,017,  and 
the  value  of  all  the  merchant  ships,  not  counting  shore  equip¬ 
ment,  according  to  pre-war  prices  was  20,810,616  gold  rubles. 

Besides  these  ships  there  were  also  government  service 
ships  of  the  Department  of  Water  Routes,  and  also  war  vessels. 
Altogether  there  were  33  government  ships  which  consisted  of 
the  following: 


Kind  of  Ship  Iron  Wood  Tonnage 

(poods) 

Steamer  .  7  —  13,000 

Barge  .  8  10  314,100 

Tug  Boats  .  7  1  550 


The  horse  power  of  these  ships  was  1509. 

Almost  all  of  the  bodies  of  the  iron  and  steel  boats  and 
barges  were  manufactured  abroad  or  in  the  ship  yards  of  Eu¬ 
ropean  Russia,  such  as  the  Sormovo,  Votinsk  and  Finnish.  The 
greater  part  of  the  rear-wheel  wooden  steamers  were  built  in 
local  ship  yards  from  drawings  made  in  America. 


27 


During  the  later  years,  steamers  of  the  so-called  “Volga” 
type  appeared  on  the  Amur.  These  mixed  freight-passenger 
steamers  were  not  intendd  to  be  used  as  tugs.  They  were 
of  a  light  type  and  carried  up  to  20,000  poods  of  freight  and  a 
considerable  number  of  passengers,  first,  second,  third  and 
fourth  class. 

Should  the  ten  years  from  1901  to  1911,  after  the  building 
of  the  Chinese  Eastern  Railroad,  be  considered,  when  the  policy 
of  penetration  first  into  the  whole  of  Manchuria  and  later,  after 
the  Russo-Japanese  war,  into  the  northern  part  of  Manchuria 
by  the  Czar’s  Government,  reached  the  height  of  its  develop¬ 
ment,  then  considerable  results  are  evident.  The  number  of 
steamers  increased  80%;  the  tonnage  increased  27%;  the  num¬ 
ber  of  vessels  without  mechanical  power — 52%,  and  their  ton¬ 
nage  40%.  This  development  was  aided  also  by  the  comlmence- 
ment  of  the  Amur  Railroad  and  the  anticipated  results  issuing 
from  the  development  of  the  country  due  to  the  building  of  the 
railroad,  and  later,  the  growth  in  the  exportation  of  beans  from 
Manchuria  through  the  Sungari  and  Amur  Rivers  to  Nikolaevsk 
for  further  shipment  to  various  markets.  The  Amur  fleet, 
after  its  development  as  indicated  above,  was  capable  of  trans¬ 
porting  from  twelve  to  fifteen  millions  of  poods  of  freight  from 
two  ports,  Nikolaevsk  and  Khabarovsk,  to  Sretensk, 

The  Chinese  Eastern  Railroad  had  and  still  has  its  own 
fleet  on  the  Sungari  River.  It  consists  of  23  steamers,  and  49 
barges,  with  a  total  capacity  of  1,800,000  poods.,  There  was, 
as  often  happens,  competition  between  the  Chinese  Eastern 
Railroad  and  the  Amur  Merchant  Fleet.  The  railroad  tried  to 
retain  all  of  its  freight  of  Manchurian  beans  for  transportation 
by  rail  to  Vladivostok,  and  established  a  special  low  tariff  for 
this  freight.  The  Amur  fleet  tried  to  obtain  part  of  this  freight 
for  transportation  on  the  Sungari  and  Amjur  Rivers  to  Niko¬ 
laevsk.  The  Sungari  was  of  great  importance  in  the  develop¬ 
ment  of  the  Amur  fleet.  The  following  table  will  serve  as  an 
illustration  of  the  importance  of  the  Sungari: 

From  Amur  to  Sungari  From  Sungari  to  Amur  No.  Passengers 


_ a _  _ a _ _  carried 

t  \  (  \ 

Year  Steamer  Barge  Steamer  Barge  From  Amur  To  Amur 

1908  .  211  227  209  227  7,913  11,919 

1909  .  233  277  233  277  13,628  21,621 

1910  .  240  359  240  358  20,922  33,871 

28 


In  1903  the  total  carrying  capacity  of  the  Sungari,  not 
counting  the  local  freight  and  the  local  Chinese  shipping 
amounted  to  26,878,945  poods.  In  1906  it  amounted  to  20,834,234 
poods.  From  the  ports  of  Sungari  to  the  ports  of  the  Amur 
was  carried  during  the  navigation  of  1910  (besides  the  local 
freight)  to  the  ports  of  upper  Amhr  5,815,717  poods,  and  to  the 
ports  of  lower  Amur  3,749,248  poods. 

Altogether  during  that  year  9,559,025  poods  of  various 
freights  were  carried  by  this  route  from  Manchuria  to  the  Amur. 
In  1913,  1,200,000  poods  of  beans  were  shipped  through  Ni- 
kolaevsk  to  western  European  markets. 

The  return  traffic  to  the  Sungari  River  was  never  so  large. 
In  1910  the  inward  freight  was  261,775  poods,  of  which  219,000 
poods  were  Amur  fish.  That  year  may  be  considered  as  the 
average.  For  four  years,  1907-1910,  inclusive,  501  ocean  going 
vessels  arrived  in  Nikolaevsk.  The  freight  brought  in  by  them 
and  carried  out  by  them  was  as  follows : 


Quantity  Quantity 

Year  Number  of  Ships  Incoming  Freight  Outgoing  Freight 

poods  poods 

1907 .  131  3,885,117  1,298,579 

1909  .  145  3,015,677  1,443,671 

1910  .  101  4,571,128  2,302,911 


The  freight  from  Nikolaevsk  consisted  of  large  quantities 
of  fish  shipped  to  Japan. 

In  accordance  with  the  treaty  of  Peking  of  1860,  and  the 
treaty  of  St.  Petersburg  of  1881,  only  Russians  and  Chinese  are 
permitted  to  navigate  the  Sungari  and  Amur  Rivers.  The  Japan¬ 
ese  have  made  many  efforts,  and  are  now  particularly  active 
in  trying  to  receive  the  right  of  navigation  of  these  rivers.  Not 
having  the  open  opportunity,  the  Japanese  are  trying  to  achieve 
their  aim  under  the  mask  of  Chinese  and  even  Russian  flags. 

Since  the  time  of  the  revolution,  and  especially  since  in¬ 
tervention,  the  Amur  fleet  was  considerably  weakened.  The 
owners  of  many  ships,  in  spite  of  the  strictest  prohibition  by 
law,  sold  Amur  ships  to  foreigners,  (this  law  was  first  intro¬ 
duced  by  the  Czarist  Government),  removed  many  steamers  to 
Harbin  and  sold  during  the  year  1918,  the  first  year  of  inter¬ 
vention,  about  40  ships,  principally  to  Chinese.  Some  of  these 
sales  may  have  been  fictitious. 

29 


At  the  present  time  the  Russian  Amur  fleet  is  as  follows : 


Tonnage 

Steamers 

Quality 

Horse  Power 

poods 

Mail-Passenger-Freight  . 

Freight-Passenger,  with  tugging 

29 

9,175 

226,400 

arrangements  . 

6 

1,740 

16,600 

Tug  Boats  .  . 

26 

6,770 

TOTAL  . 

61 

17,685 

243,000 

To  this  must  be  added  103  barges  with  a  tonange  of 
2,578,000  poods.  Thus  the  tonnage  of  the  whole  merchant 
Amur  fleet  equals  47,016  tons.  At  the  present  time  in  the  Amur 
River  there  are  being  operated:  1)  “The  Amur  State  Fleet”, 
operated  by  the  Government;  2)  “The  Amur  Company  of  Ship¬ 
ping  and  Trade”,  which  is  owned  by  private  individuals. 

All  ships  were  to  be  employed  in  freight  and  passenger 
traffic  in  the  following  lines: 


Name  of  Line  Distance  in  Miles  Number  of  Trips 

per  month 


Sretensk-Blagoveshchensk  (Upper  Amur  Line) _  807  8% 

Blagoveshchensk-Khabarovsk  (Central  Amur  Line)  620  1014 

Khabarovsk-Nikolaevsk  (Lower  Amur  Line) .  591  12 

Blagoveshchensk-Zeya  (Zeya  Line) .  415  10 

Blagoveshchensk-Ekimchan  (Selemdzha  Line) -  483  5 

Blagoveshchensk-Chekunda  (Bureya  Line) .  400  3 

Pokrovka-Olochi  (Argun  Line)  .  267  3 

Lokhososu-Harbin  (Sungari  Line)  .  571 


The  number  of  trips  of  the  Sungari  line  was  to  be  determ¬ 
ined  by  the  actual  necessity,  which  varied  a  great  deal. 

Political  conditions  connected  with  Japanese  aggressiveness, 
the  seizure  by  them  of  Nikolaevsk  on  the  Amur,  made  condi¬ 
tions  very  unstable  and  detrimental  to  the  people  of  the  Far 
Eastern  Republic.  According  to  the  figures  of  the  Shiping  In¬ 
spection  of  the  Amur  basin,  the  movement  of  freight  for  three 
months,  May,  June  and  July  1921,  was  as  follows: 

Freight  Shipped  and  Received 


_ A _ 

Month  On  Steamers  and  those  Rafts  Total  Quantity 

tugged  by  steam  pow&r 

in  poods  in  poods  in  poods 

May  .  141,820  191,940  333,760 

June  .  256,652  1,033,345  1,290,197 

July  .  657,006  690,050  1,347,056 


TOTAL  .  1,055,478  1,914,535  2,971,013 


30 


There  are  no  definite  figures  for  August  and  September 
but  they  were  higher  than  those  for  the  preceding  three  months 
According  to  reports  regarding  navigation  on  the  Amur  River 
for  the  first  month  of  the  season  of  1922  the  amount  of  freight 
carried  during  that  month  is  greater  than  for  the  entire  season 
of  1921.  If  the  figures  for  the  ten  years,  1901-1911,  which 
were  given  above,  should  be  taken  into  consideration,  the  quan¬ 
tity  of  freight  on  the  Amur  increased  from  340,000  to  1,500,000 
tons  (i.  e.,  it  increased  four  times),  and  the  considerable  drop 
in  the  quantity  of  freight  in  the  recent  years  becomes  clearly 
evident.  The  principal  cause  of  the  decrease  in  the  quantity 
of  freight  can  be  attributed  to  allied  intervention,  particularly 
that  of  the  Japanese. 

The  principal  river  harbors,  important  for  their  facilities 
as  well  as  the  quantity  of  freight  handled,  are  the  following 
in  the  order  named: 

1.  Blagoveshchensk. 

2.  Khabarovsk. 

3.  Sretensk, 

4.  Nikolaevsk. 

5.  Zeya-Pristan. 

The  harbor  of  Blagoveshchensk  handled  32%  of  the  total 
freight  of  the  Amur  system;  Khabarovsk — 14%;  Sretensk — 
8 y2%\  Nikolaevsk — 7.8%;  and  Zeya-Pristan — 3%.  The  tnouth 
of  the  Sungari  passes  to  the  Amur  16%  of  the  total  freight  of 
the  basin,  and  the  rest  of  the  small  harbors  handle  about  17%. 

Commodities  carried  on  the  Amur  River  can  be  classified 


in  the  following  manner: 

Article  Percentage 

Grain  (wheat,  oats,  etc.) .  42% 

Fish .  8.7 

Tea .  3 

Salt .  1.6 

Groceries .  2.9 

Iron .  1.8 

Various .  40 . 


Of  the  42%  grain  freight  the  quantity  of  oats  is  6%,  and 
the  rest  is  wheat. 

The  importance  of  Zeya  for  the  district  is  significant.  The 


31 


rich  gold  mines  scattered  throughout  the  upper  part  of  the 
Zeya  and  its  tributary  Selem^zha  employ  a  great  number  of 
workers  who  produced  annually  up  to  400  poods  of  gold  worth 
$4,000,000,  (these  gold  mines  in  the  near  future  ought  to  play 
a  very  important  part).  The  fertile  valleys  inhabited  by  an 
agricultural  population  give  very  good  crops,  the  surplus  of 
which  is  shipped  to  Blagoveshchensk  and  other  markets. 

The  following  table  shows  when  the  rivers  in  the  Amur 
basin  are  open  to  navigation: 


Breaking  up  of  Freezing  of  River 


River 

Principal  Harbor 

Ice  in  River 

Shilka 

Sretensk 

April  5—29 

October  11 — 30 

Amur 

Blagoveshchensk 

April  8 — 20 

October  22 — Nov.  5 

Amur 

Khabarovsk 

April  7 — 20 

October  29 — Nov.  16 

Amur 

Nikolaevsk 

April  28 — May  12 

October  21 — Nov.  5 

Zeya 

Zeya-Pristan 

April  15 — 29 

October  11 — 24 

Ussuri 

Khabarovsk 

April  7—19 

October  29 — Nov.  10 

Ussuri 

Iman 

March  23 — April  9 

October  24 — Nov.  11 

With  the  general  restoration  of  the  whole  country  com¬ 
mercially  and  industrially,  which  has  already  begun  in  the  ter¬ 
ritory  liberated  from  foreign  troops,  the  Amur  Basin  will  un¬ 
doubtedly  not  only  assume  its  former  place,  that  properly  be¬ 
longs  to  it,  but  will  even  surpass  it.  The  whole  problem  now 
lies  in  the  liberation  of  Nikolaevsk,  and  other  territory  of  the 
Far  Eastern  Republic  occupied  by  the  Japanese. 

The  Russian  Volunteer  Fleet  operated  several  fair-sized 
vessels  between  Vladivostok  and  foreign  and  Russian  ports.  Its 
ships  plied  between  Vladivostok  and  Japanese,  Chinese,  Amer¬ 
ican,  and  other  foreign  ports.  At  the  present  time,  because  of 
Japanese  intervention,  the  Volunteer  Fleet  has  curtailed  its 
functions  considerably,  but  after  the  departure  of  the  Japanese 
troops  it  will  resume  its  previous  activities. 

3.— HIGHWAYS. 

The  future  of  the  Far  Eastern  Republic  depends  on  the  or¬ 
ganized  exploitation  of  its  vast  natural  resources.  There  are 
two  obstacles  to  the  development  of  these  resources  on  a  very 
large  scale:  first,  the  sparseness  of  the  population  of  the  vast 
territory  (2,030,000  people,  to  a  territory  of  1,690,568  square 


32 


kilometers) ;  second,  insufficiency  of  highways  compared  to 
the  great  distances  of  the  Republic. 

The  first  problem  can  be  solved  by  an  organized  policy  of 
colonization  of  the  country  by  the  surplus  peasant  and  other 
population  of  Russia,  which  plan  has  been  taken  into  consider¬ 
ation  by  the  Government  of  the  Par  Eastern  Republic. 

The  second  can  be  solved  by  organized  building  on  a  net 
of  highways.  Together  with  the  railroads  and  water  routes, 
highways  are  of  tremendous  importance.  The  purpose  of  high¬ 
ways,  among  others,  is  on  the  one  hand  to  carry  through  the 
territory  of  the  country  commodities  for  export,  and  to  direct 
these  commodities  into  the  principal  routes,  and,  on  the  other 
hand,  to  distribute  among  the  population  the  imported  goods 
received  from  the  principal  routes.  By  these  highways  it  will 
be  possible  to  reach  the  known  vast  mineral  deposits.  Through 
these  roads  it  will  be  possible  to  find  and  explore  many  new 
mineral  deposits  which  are  believed  to  be  just  as  vast.  These 
roads  will  give  an  additional  opportunity  to  exploit  the  forest 
wealth. 

Many  of  the  gold  mines  which  have  been  opened,  and  which 
are  not  being  worked  at  the  present  time  can  once  more  pro¬ 
duce  a  large  quantity  of  gold  if  only  a  convenient  and  cheap 
access  for  dredges  and  workers  and  supplies  were  created. 

The  majority  of  the  roads  of  the  Far  Eastern  Republic,  as 
in  Russia  itself,  came  into  existence  in  a  natural  way,  under 
the  influence  and  demands  of  local  life.  The  primitive  pack 
trail  turned  into  a  dirt  road;  later  it  became  a  post  road,  and 
then  it  had  to  be  improved  and  repaired  by  the  local  popula¬ 
tion  by  Government  orders,  but  without  the  participation  of 
any  technically  qualified  builders.  It  is  not  surprising,  there¬ 
fore,  that  there  often  are  great  difficulties  for  travel  on  these 
roads,  especially  in  rainy  weather,  because  of  lack  of  bridges 
and  well  organized  crossings,  steep  cliffs  and  poorly  constructed 
road  beds. 

More  or  less  regular  technical  construction  of  roads  in  the 
Russian  Far  East  began  to  take  place  about  ten  or  fifteen  years 
ago,  first  under  the  direction  of  the  Emigration  Department, 
and  then  by  the  Ministry  of  Ways  of  Communication.  Unfor¬ 
tunately  all  the  roads  that  had  come  into  existance  naturally, 


33 


as  well  as  those  that  were  especially  constructed  during  the 
last  few  years,  were,  for  general  reasons  indicated  above,  left 
without  improvement  and  repair,  and  in  places  suffered  a  great 
deal  from  civil  war,  fanned  by  intervention.  Some  roads  re¬ 
quire  only  small  repairs  in  order  to  be  fit  for  equestrian  traffic 
as  well  as  for  automobile  and  tractor  traffic.  Some  other  roads, 
particularly  those  built  by  the  local  population,  demand  more  or 
less  greater  repairs  in  order  to  be  fit  for  such  transportation. 

From  the  national  point  of  view,  as  well  as  from  the  point 
of  view  of  the  local  population,  besides  improving  the  existing 
roads  it  is  of  no  less  importance  to  build  new  roads.  The  im¬ 
possibility  of  a  wide  development  in  the  immediate  future  of 
railroad  construction,  due  to  the  economic  conditions,  and  the 
large  requirements  for  roads,  make  it  essential  to  consider  the 
building  of  highways  which  are  less  expensive,  but  which  would 
be  constructed  so  as  to  permit  automobile  and  tractor  trans¬ 
portation. 

With  the  growth  of  the  quantity  of  freight  carried  on  the 
highways,  a  necessity  will  arise  for  strengthening  the  road 
beds,  and  gradually  transforming  them  into  macadamized 
roads.  The  success  of  automobile  traffic  abroad,  especially 
in  America,  and  the  colossal  development  of  the  highways  and 
macadam  roads  occasioned  by  it,  give  a  basis  for  the  belief 
that  in  the  Far  Eastern  Republic  improved  highways  will  for  a 
long  time  take  place  of  railroads. 

In  the  near  future  it  will  be  possible  to  organize,  either 
through  the  Government  or  by  private  means,  automobile  and 
tractor  transportation  of  freight  on  the  same  commercial  basis 
existing  at  the  present  time  on  the  railroads  and  water  routes. 

Because  of  the  similarity  of  the  geographical  conditions 
of  North  America  and  the  Russian  Far  East,  it  may  be  expected 
that  in  the  near  future  the  successful  application  of  mechanical 
means  in  the  construction  of  new  roads  and  in  the  improve¬ 
ment  of  old  ones  in  the  Far  Eastern  Republic  will  take  place. 

ZABAIKAL  PROVINCE  (INCLUDING  PRIBAIKAL  PROVINCE) 

In  the  Zabaikal  Province  at  the  present  time  there  are 
1691  miles  (2,536  versts)  of  post  roads,  and  694  miles  (1,041 
versts),  built  by  the  Emigration  Department.  A  small  net  of 


34 


roads  about  100  miles  (150  versts)  long,  fit  for  automobile  traf¬ 
fic,  was  built  during  the  war  by  the  Ministry  of  Ways  of  Com¬ 
munication  in  the  district  of  the  tungsten  deposits  of  the  Ner¬ 
chinsk  mining  district,  which  made  possible  the  development 
of  the  tungsten  mining.  Besides  this  there  is  a  net  of  village 
roads  and  pack  roads,  the  length  of  which  is  unknown.  There 
are  no  macadamized  roads  in  the  Zabaikal  Province.  Many  of 
the  roads  of  the  province  can  be  quickly  made  fit  for  automo¬ 
bile  traffic  at  a  small  expenditure  of  (money  for  their  repair. 
These  roads  require  principally  the  construction  and  repair  of 
river  crossings  and  the  construction  of  bridges.  A  plan  has 
been  prepared  for  the  building  of  new  roads  along  the  entire 
frontier  of  the  Zabaikal  Province,  with  China,  and  the  cross 
roads  to  the  railroad  line.  Besides,  plans  have  also  been  pre¬ 
pared  for  two  or  three  roads  leading  to  the  rich  gold  deposits 
of  the  Bargusin  and  Vitim  forest  area.  If  these  roads  are  built, 
then  the  principal  roads  of  the  Zabaikal  Province  will  be  about 
4,000  miles  (6,000  versts.) 

AMUR  PROVINCE. 

The  Amur  Province  has  a  comparatively  large  net  of  high¬ 
ways.  The  following  is  the  mileage  of  the  roads. 


Road  Mileage 

1.  Government  Roads .  2,589 

2.  Provincial  Roads .  1,165 

3.  County  Roads .  507 

4.  Township  Roads .  730 

5.  Village  and  Farm  Roads .  1,029 

Total .  6,020 


The  principal  roads  of  the  Amur  Province  are  located 
in  the  stretch  between  the  Amur  Railroad  and  the  Amur  River, 
especially  in  the  grain  district  between  the  lower  part  of  the 
Zeya  and  Bureya.  In  the  northern  part  of  the  province  in  the 
gold  mining  district  there  are  a  few  roads,  not  counting  the 
unfinished  roads  of  Dzhalinda,  Zeya  and  Nikolaevsk. 

The  proposed  plan  for  additional  roads  in  the  Amur  Pro¬ 
vince  has  in  view  the  construction  of  roads  which  would  be 
connected  with  the  trade  centers  of  the  Priamur  District,  with 


35 


the  west,  east,  north  and  northwest,  specially  with  the  gold 
mining  districts  and  the  districts  which  are  to  be  colonized 
in  the  Priamur  territory. 

The  connection  of  the  Amur  Province  with  the  economic 
center  of  Manchuria-Harbin,  is  maintained  in  the  summer  by 
steamers  on  the  Sungari  River.  There  is  also  an  automobile 
road  between  Tsitsikar  on  the  Chinese  Eastern  Railroad  and 
Sakhalyan,  a  Chinese  city  on  the  Chinese  side  of  the  Amur 
River,  opposite  which  is  Blagoveshchensk,  the  principle  center 
of  the  Amur  Province.  To  connect  the  Amur  Province  on  the 
northeast  with  the  lower  part  of  the  Amur  there  was  outlined, 
and  partially  built,  the  Nikolaevsk  road:  Blagoveshchensk- 
Nikolaevsk,  a  total  distance  of  889  miles.  The  significance  of 
this  road  is  very  great.  Blagoveshchensk  is  the  Government 
center  of  the  Amur  Province,  and  the  chief  commercial  indust¬ 
rial  point  in  the  Priamur  District.  It  has  a  surplus  of  grain, 
and  is  located  near  the  largest  gold  mining  centers.  Nikolaevsk 
is  a  port  for  import  and  export  trade  in  the  Priamur  District, 
the  center  of  a  large  fishing  industry  of  the  lower  part  of  the 
Amur  and  also  of  the  gold  mining  industry  of  the  Amgun 
District.  The  Nikolaevsk  road  will  have  to  be  the  only  per¬ 
manent  road  between  these  two  points.  The  distance  between 
these  two  cities,  by  this  road,  is  considerably  shorter  than  by 
the  river.  It  also  crosses  and  connects  with  commercial — in¬ 
dustrial  centers,  and  with  a  net  of  main  roads,  three  most 
important  gold  mining  districts  of  the  Priamur  Province:  Sel- 
emdzha,  Niman-Bureya,  and  Amgun-Kerbin,  which  produced 
half  of  the  gold  mined  in  the  district.  At  the  present  time 
there  is  a  road  from  Blagoveshchensk  to  Khabarovsk  ware¬ 
house  along  the  Amgun  River  (691  miles)  from  where  there 
is  a  regular  steamer  connection  with  Nikolaevsk. 

To  the  north  a  road  is  being  planned  connecting  the  Amur 
Province  with  the  city  of  Yakutsk,  which  is  1,867  miles  from 
the  nearest  railroad.  The  connection  with  Yakutsk  will  give 
an  access  for  cattle  to  the  mining  regions,  and  an  outlet  for 
the  Yakutsk  furs  to  the  territory  of  the  Far  Eastern  Republic. 
It  is  planned  to  supplement  the  existing  roads  which  are  in  a 
suitable  condition  by  repairing,  finishing,  and  building  new 
roads,  by  additional  4,667  miles. 


36 


Maritime  and  Priamur  Provinces. 

In  the  Maritime  Province  there  are  artifically  built  high¬ 
ways  in  the  narrow  strip  along  the  Ussuri  Railroad  and  in  the 
southern  part  of  the  Ussuri  District,  i.e.,  in  the  most  populated 
and  cultural  parts  of  the  province.  North  of  Khabarovsk  (Pria¬ 
mur  Province)  there  are  a  few  roads.  The  roads  Sofiisk-De 
Kastri  has  not  been  completed.  Neither  has  the  end  of  the 
Nikolaevsk  road  which  connects  Khabarovsk  with  Nikolaevsk, 
i.e.  Kerbin  Pass-Kerbi  been  finished.  There  are  small  roads 
among  the  lakes  in  the  lower  part  of  the  Amur.  For  com¬ 
munication  with  the  gold  mines  there  are  only  pack  roads. 
Beyond  the  railroad  in  the  valleys  of  the  rivers  there  are 
colonization  roads  which  were  built  in  recent  years  by  the 
Emigration  Department.  Communication  between  Khabarovsk 
and  Nikolaevsk  in  the  winter  time  was  by  post  roads  (589 
miles),  or  by  ice  across  the  Amur  River, 

In  the  Priamur  Province  there  is  a  macadam  road  of  8.3 
miles  between  Khabarovsk  and  the  naval  base. 

In  the  district  Nikolsk-Ussurisk  (Martime  Province)  there 
are  a  few  post  roads  which  need  repairs.  Along  the  sea  coast 
from  Razdolnaya  to  St.  Olga  there  is  a  shore  road.  Along 
the  Ussuri  Railroad  there  is  an  abandonned  temporary  road 
which  may  yet  be  of  great  importance. 

In  all  there  are  in  the  Maritime  and  Priamur  Provinces 


the  following  roads: 

Road  Mileage 

Macadamized  Roads .  8.3 

Post  Carriage  Roads .  565.0 

Emigration  Department  Roads .  1,600 . 0 

Roads  built  by  the  Ministry  of  Ways  and  Com¬ 
munications  .  264.0 

Total  miles .  2,437.3 


The  length  of  the  smaller  roads  and  most  of  the  pack 
trails  is  not  known. 

It  is  planned  to  build  a  shore  road  from  the  lower  Amur 
from  Khabarovsk  to  Nikolaevsk,  and  also  to  reconstruct  the 
abondonned  road  along  the  Ussuri  Railroad.  There  is  also  a 
project  to  connect  these  roads  in  a  few  places  with  the  sea- 


37 


shore  across  the  mountain  range  Sikhota-Alin.  For  connect¬ 
ing  the  gold  mining  districts  of  the  lower  part  of  the  Amur 
with  Nikolaevsk  and  the  sea  coast,  short  distance  roads  are 
planned  in  the  district  of  Lakes  Orel  and  Chlya.  Also  out¬ 
lets  from  the  Nikolaevsk  road  to  the  Ud  District  and  a  branch 
for  connecting  Khabarovsk  with  the  upper  Amgun  and  Niman 
gold  mining  districts  are  planned.  The  building  of  the  latter 
roads  will  greatly  stimulate  the  gold  mining  industry  in  that 
region. 

It  is  intended  to  repair  and  build  3600  miles  of  new  roads 
in  the  Maritime  and  Priamur  Provinces,  which  include  the  im¬ 
provement  of  the  very  important  road  Khabarovsk-Imperator- 
sky  Harbor  (300  miles).  This  road  is  a  direct  continuation  of 
the  Amur  River  and  Railroad  route  to  the  sea. 

4.  PORTS  AND  HARBORS 

Among  the  ports  and  protected  harbors  which  are  of  com¬ 
mercial  importance  at  the  present  or  which  rnjay  become  such 
in  the  immediate  future,  the  following  should  be  memtioned: 

Vladivostok,  Nikolaevsk,  De  Kastri,  Imperatorsky  Harbor, 
Bay  of  Peter  the  Great,  Bay  of  St.  Valentine,  Bay  of  St.  Olga, 
Bay  of  Alexandrovsk. 

Of  these  only  Vladivostok  can  be  considered  a  fully  equip¬ 
ped  port  in  the  real  sense  of  the  term.  Of  the  others  mem¬ 
tioned,  Nikolaevsk  and  Alexandrovsk,  which  are  already  at  the 
present  time  of  great  importance,  require  considerable  improve¬ 
ments  and  expenditure  of  money  before  they  can  be  made  into 
modern  ports. 

De  Kastri,  Imperatorsky  Harbor,  and  others,  have  all  the 
natural  requisites  for  becoming  first  class  modern  ports,  but 
require  considerable  capital  for  their  construction.  The  de¬ 
velopment  or  the  economic  resources  of  the  country  undoubt¬ 
edly  will,  in  the  more  or  less  immediate  future,  make  it  neces¬ 
sary  to  utilize  these  valuable  gifts  of  nature. 

Vladivostok 

Vladivostok  is  situated  on  the  southern  end  of  Moora- 
viev- Amursky  peninsula,  and  lies  43°  T  5”  north  latitude,  and 


38 


131°  54’  east  longitude.  The  stretch  of  land  occupied  by  the 
city  is  washed  by  the  Amur  Bay  on  the  western  side  and  by  the 
Ussuri  Bay  on  the  eastern.  This  peninsula  has  a  length  of 
29  kilometers,  and  a  total  area  of  330  square  kilometers.  To 
the  south  lies  the  Russian  Island  which  is  separated  from  the 
m(ainland  by  a  strait  called  Bosphorus  Vostochny,  having  a 
westward  direction.  Two  kilometers  before  the  Vladivostok 
Harbor  it  becomes  round,  and  assumes  the  shape  of  a  horn. 
The  Zolotoy  Rog  is  about  six  kilometers  long,  one  kilometer 
wide,  and  has  a  depth  of  from  eight  to  thirty  meters.  The 
town  is  built  on  the  slope  of  the  Sikhota  Alin. 

During  high  tide  the  water  rises  not  more  than  one  foot, 
which  makes  the  harbor  a  safe  refuge  for  ships.  The  port  has 
good  warehouses.  For  unloading  operations  there  are  over  fifty 
cranes.  The  port  can  be  used  throughout  the  entire  year. 
During  the  three  or  four  months  (December  to  March),  when 
the  Bay  is  covered  with  a  thin  layer  of  ice,  the  ice  is  cleared 
away  by  special  ice  breakers.  The  Ussuri  Railroad  has  its 
terminal  in  Vladivostok.  It  connects  first,  Khabarovsk  with  the 
Amur  Railroad,  which  in  turn  connects  with  the  Chita  Rail¬ 
road,  which  leads  into  Russia;  second,  at  Station  Pogranich- 
naya,  with  the  Chinese  Eastern  Railroad,  which  connects  with 
the  Chita  Railroad  at  Station  Manchuria  and  with  the  South 
Manchurian  railway  at  Chang-Chun.  Vladivostok  is  connected 
by  a  branch  line  with  the  large  Suchan  coal  mines.  From  the 
port  of  Vladivostok  ships  leave  for  Kolima  through  the  Arctic 
Ocean  for  trade  and  barter  with  the  population  of  the  north¬ 
ern  Yakutsk  Provinco,  for  Sakhalin,  for  the  Black  Sea  (Odessa) 
for  Japan,  China,  America,  etc.  The  commercial  importance  of 
Vladivostok  is  great  not  only  in  regard  to  coastwise  trade,  but 
primarily  as  an  export  and  import  base  of  the  Far  Eastern 
Republic  and  Russia,  and  an  outlet  to  the  ocean  for  the  five 
million  tons  of  the  annual  crop  of  Manchurian  beans  and  other 
products,  and  as  the  eastern  port  of  the  Far  Eastern  Republic 
and  Russia.  In  spite  of  the  temporary  difficulties  in  the  way 
of  commercial  and  other  activities  in  Vladivostok,  due  to  the 
political  situation  it  has  a  great  future,  and,  in  normal  times, 
can  successfully  compete  with  its  rival  Dairen. 


39 


Nikolaevsk 


The  significance  of  Nikolaevsk  as  a  port  of  special  im¬ 
portance  may  be  attributed  to  the  fact  that  it  is  the  center  of 
the  prosperous  fishing  industry  of  the  district,  as  well  as  the 
river  outlet,  for  the  Manchurian  market,  and  because  the  port 
is  open  almost  six  months  in  the  year.  The  port  of  Nikolaevsk 
can  receive  sea  going  vessels  with  a  draft  of  16  feet,  although 
at  times  ships  with  a  larger  draft  come  into  the  port.  Large 
ships  unload  in  the  Nikolaevsk  Bay.  After  an  expenditure  of 
some  money  for  the  deepening  of  the  channels  at  the  places 
where  the  Amur  River  flows  into  the  sea,  it  will  be  able  to 
accomodate  large  ships.  Nikolaevsk  never  had  sufficient  port 
facilities,  warehouses,  etc.  At  the  present  time  after  the  des¬ 
truction  which  has  taken  place  there,  its  restoration  will  re¬ 
quire  a  large  expenditure  of  money.  The  future  for  Nikolaevsk 
as  a  port  is  assured,  because  it  is  located  in  a  district  of  vast 
fish,  forest  and  gold  resources. 

De  Kastri 

De  Kastri  is  located  opposite  Sakhalin.  It  has  all  the  natural 
requisites  for  a  first  class  port.  Plans  have  been  made  to  con¬ 
nect  it  v/ith  the  Amur  River  (30  miles).  This  would  at  once 
increase  its  importance.  Navigation  in  De  Kastri  Bay  is  open 
for  7 — 7i/2  months  in  the  year.  Ships  with  a  draft  of  30  feet 
can  enter  De  Kastri,  thus  giving  it  certain  advantages  over 
Nikolaevsk. 


ASexandrovsk 

Because  of  the  vast  coal  wealth  of  Sakhalin,  Alexand- 
rovsk  is  of  importance  for  the  Russian  Far  East.  Arter  the 
building  of  a  necessary  port,  its  significance  undoubtedly  will 
be  tremendous  as  the  coal  deposits  could  thus  be  developed 
on  a  large  scale. 

St.  Olga 

St.  Olga  is  located  in  the  district  of  vast  iron  deposits,  and 
after  port  facilities  have  been  built  it  will  occupt  the  place 
that  belongs  to  this  natural  harbor.  After  the  carrying  out  of 


40 


the  project  for  connecting  the  Bay  with  Ussuri  Railroad  its 
significance  will  be  much  greater. 

Bay  of  Posist 

The  Bay  of  Posiet  may  be  in  the  future  of  great  import¬ 
ance,  if  the  project  of  connecting  the  Chinese  city  Hunchun 
with  the  Bay  by  a  railroad  is  affected.  The  railroad  would 
give  a  good  outlet  to  the  rich  Chinese  grain  region. 


41 


CHAPTER  VI. 


AGRICULTURE 

From  the  fact  that  65%  of  the  total  population  of  the  Far 
Eastern  Republic  are  peasants,  it  is  clearly  evident  that  agri¬ 
culture  occupies  an  important  place  in  the  economic  life  of  the 
Republic.  The  peasants  and  the  cossacks  (who  are  also  en¬ 
gaged  in  agriculture)  emigrated  from  various  parts  of  agricul¬ 
tural  Russia.  The  Czar’s  Government  brought  the  peasants 
here  for  the  purpose  of  developing  and  populating  the  country, 
and  the  cossacks  for  the  guarding  of  the  eastern  frontiers. 
The  most  populated  regions  of  the  Republic  are  the  southern 
parts  of  the  provinces,  along  the  Amur  River  and  its  affluents, 
and  the  districts  along  the  railroads.  The  nothern  parts  are 
sparsely  populated,  and  consist  of  practivally  virgin  Taiga  (for¬ 
ests),  which  contains  innumerable  wealth.  In  the  Taiga  re¬ 
gions  the  population  is  engaged  to  a  great  extent  in  hunting, 
and  in  the  districts  close  to  the  Amur  River,  in  fishing.  In 
spite  of  the  large  percentage  of  peasant  population  and  the 
collosal  territory  fit  for  cultivation,  the  republic  has  to  import 
grain. 

The  cultivated  area  in  the  Republic  is  on  the  average 
3,598,356  acres.  This  acreage  is  divided  as  follows: 


Province  Acreage 

Maritime — Priamur  .  893,028 

Amjur  .  1,485,177 

Zabaikal  .  742,584 

Pribaikal  . 477,567 

Total  .  3,598,356 


These  figures  indicate  that  only  a  small  part  of  the  ter¬ 
ritory  is  under  cultivation.  According  to  approximate  figures 
the  territory  fit  for  culitvation  is  as  follows: 


42 


Province 

Zabaikal  . 

Amur  . 

Maritime — Priamur 
Total  . 


Acreage 

15,000,000 

21,000,000 

18,000,000 

54,000,000 


Of  course  hopes  for  the  cultivation  of  such  vast  area  can 
be  justified  only  with  the  solution  of  the  problem  of  coloni¬ 
zation  of  the  Russian  Far  East  and  in  the  introduction  of  a  suf¬ 
ficient  quantity  of  modern  agricultural  implements. 

The  following  are  the  graminous  plants:  wheat,  oats,  rye, 
buckwheat,  barley.  Plants  of  industrial  value  are  flax  and 
hemp. 

The  agricultural  region  is  primarily  in  the  Amur  Province, 
and  the  cattle  breeding  in  the  Zabaikal  Province.  The  popu¬ 
lation  of  the  Amur  Province  may  be  classified  as  follows: 

Classification  Percentage  of  Total  Population 


of  Province 


Peasants  . 

Cities  and  Towns  of  City  Type 
Mining  Regions . 


62 

27 

11 


The  early  emigrants  among  the  peasants  received  300 
acres  each.  During  later  years  they  recived  45  acres,  and 
later  even  less.  The  average  holding  per  peasant  in  the  Amur 
Province  is  41  acres;  in  the  Zabaikal  Province  11  acres,  and  in 
the  Maritime  Province  15  acres.  According  to  the  figures  of 
the  so-called  Amur  Expedition,  which  explored  the  Amur  Pro¬ 
vince  in  1910,  the  number  of  peasant  holdings  engaged  in  agri¬ 
culture  was  21,074,  with  a  cultivated  area  of  832,395  acres. 
According  to  statistics  of  1917,  the  number  of  holdings  in¬ 
creased  to  36,280,  giving  a  total  area  under  cultivation  of 
1,486,177.  By  comparing  these  figures,  it  is  evident  that  the 
number  of  peasant  holdings  for  seven  years  increased  to  14,280, 
i.  e.,  almost  65%.  The  growth  of  the  area  under  cultivation 
for  the  same  period  was  652,782  acres,  or  78%. 

In  the  Zabaikal  Province  in  1897,  the  area  under  cultiva¬ 
tion  was  873,621  acres,  and  in  1916,  it  was  1,323,679  acres,  and 
the  number  of  holdings  increased  from  79,420  to  125,931,  i.  e., 
during  19  years,  the  number  of  holdings  increased  only  29%, 


43 


and  the  cultivation  area  34%.  In  the  Maritime  Province  during 
the  year  1909,  there  were  cultivated  580,000  ac^es,  and  in 
1916 — 859,536,  acres,  an  increase  of  48%. 

The  area  under  cultivation  in  1918  in  the  Amur  Province 
was  1,655,919  acres;  in  1919,  1,490,331  acres.  The  figures  of 
the  local  statistics  give  the  following  picture  of  the  output  of 
the  grain  products  of  this  province  (net  crops,  deducting  grain 
for  seeding  purposes) : 


Year  Output  in  tons 

1917  .  303,457  (according  to  the  figures 

of  the  Ministry  of  Agri¬ 
culture — 340,450). 

1918  .  475,088 

1919  .  344,552 


This  means  that  the  average  production  per  person  of  the 
peasants  population  during  the  year  1916 — 1919  was  86  poods 
or  1  1-3  tons. 

In  the  Zabaikal  Province  the  net  crop  of  grain  per  per¬ 
son  of  peasant  population  during  the  years  1915 — 1917  was  as 


follows : 

Year  Net  Crop  of  Grain  per 

Person  in  poods 

1915  . 17.5 

1916  .  25.0 

1917  .  20.5 


In  the  Maritime  Province  during  the  year  1915,  the  net 
crop  was  seven  poods  per  person.  The  crops  in  the  Amur 
Province  per  peasant  exceed  the  crops  of  any  of  the  Siberian 
provinces. 

As  to  the  quantity  of  land  per  peasant  holding  the  Amur 
Province  occupies  the  first  place  almong  all  the  Russian  Prov¬ 
inces. 

The  quantity  of  the  net  crop  per  person  shows  that  the 
crop  at  times  far  exceeds  the  requirements  of  the  local  popu¬ 
lation,  and  even  years  when  the  crops  are  poor  give  some  sur¬ 
plus  which  may  be  exported  outside  of  the  province.  Accord¬ 
ing  to  local  statistics  the  surplus  for  1915 — 1919  was  expressed 
in  the  following  figures : 


44 


Year  Quantity,  in  tons 

1915  .  206,982 

1916  .  9,591 

1917  .  58,269 

1918  .  184,510 

1919  .  53,974 


The  character  of  various  cultures  and  the  proportion  of 
their  area  under  cultivation  in  the  individual  provinces  to  the 
total  area  under  cultivation  is  expressed  in  the  following 
table. 


Percentage 


Product  Amur  Province  Zabaikal  Province  Maritime  Province 


1917 

1916 

1916 

Wheat  . 

52.2 

17.3 

31.6 

Oats  . 

39.3 

.... 

33.5 

Oats  and  Barley  . 

.... 

20.7 

.... 

Rye  . 

1.3 

52.0 

1.2 

Buckwheat  . 

1.1 

6.5 

15.4 

Millet  . 

9.6 

0.2 

Barley  . 

0.3 

.... 

0.9 

Potatoes  . 

1.4 

0.9 

6.3 

Corn  . 

.... 

2.8 

Sunflower  . 

0.6 

.... 

.... 

Sunflower,  hemp  and  poppies .  . 

0.1 

.... 

Melons  and  cucumbers  . 

0.2 

.... 

Garden  Vegetables,  mellons 

and  tobacco  . 

0.7 

Flax  . 

0:2 

5.0 

Hemp  . 

0.1 

Seed  grasses  . 

.... 

1.6 

. ... 

Beans  . 

.... 

2.9 

Tobacco  . 

.... 

0.4 

Various  . 

0.7 

.... 

100% 

100% 

100% 

The  production  of  wheat  and  oats  occupies  the  most  im¬ 
portant  place  in  the  Amur  Province;  rye  and  then  oats  and 
wheat,  in  the  Zabaikal  Province;  in  the  Maritime  Province, 
wheat  and  oats  are  divided  about  equally,  occupying  each  1-3 
of  the  cultivated  area;  the  percentage  of  buckwjheat  is  high, 
being  15.4%,  and  potatoes — 6.3%,  flax  5%. 


45 


AVERAGE  CROPS  IN  THE  AMUR  PROVINCE  ACCORDING  TO  THE 
FIGURES  FOR  9  YEARS,  1911-1919,  INCLUSIVE 


(given  in 

an  area 

of  one  desiatine  [about  3 

acres] 

in  poods) 

1  pood= 

:36.11  lbs. 

Year 

Wheat 

Oats 

Rye 

Barley  Millet 

Buckwheat 

Potatoes 

1911 

70 

73 

49 

83 

57 

28 

534 

1912 

81 

65 

53 

71 

52 

34 

885 

1913 

70 

73 

66 

63 

62 

47 

411 

1914 

38 

55 

50 

573 

1915 

64 

66 

72 

45 

51 

42 

543 

1916 

52 

54 

45 

61 

55 

45 

406 

1917 

45 

55 

61 

54 

37 

41 

450 

1918 

61 

71 

66 

77 

35 

37 

674 

1919 

49 

56 

49 

77 

61 

49 

. . . 

The  crops 

in  the 

Maritime 

Province 

according  to 

the  fig- 

ures  of  1914  were  as  follows: 


Product  Poods,  per  desiatine 

Wheat .  51.4 

Rye .  50.5 

Oats .  60.3 

Barley .  42.6 


The  average  amjount  of  seed  planted  per  desiatine  (about 
3  acres)  in  the  Amur  and  Maritime  Provinces  was  as  follows: 


Seed  Poods,  per  desiatine 

Amur  Maritime 

Wheat .  9.6  8.8 

Oats .  10.6  8.4 

Rye .  9.1  10.8 

Barley .  8.7  6.5 

Millet .  2.5 

Buckwheat .  5.7 

Potatoes .  68.8 


The  great  development  of  agriculture  in  the  Amur  Pro¬ 
vince,  which  has  an  abundance  of  tillable  lands,  the  wealth  of 
the  rural  population,  and  the  relative  proximity  to  the  Ameri¬ 
can  market,  with  its  highly  developed  production  of  argicul- 
tural  machinery,  resulted  in  a  considerable  utilization  in  the 
province  of  agricultural  implements  which  have  found  wide 
application  in  this  province.  The  number  of  agricultural  im- 


46 


plements  owned  by  the  peasants,  in  the  Amur  Province  can 
be  seen  from  the  census  of  machinery  taken  during  the  year 
1917  (for  the  purpose  of  comparison  the  corresponding  figures 
are  given  for  two  other  provinces  of  the  Par  Eastern  Republic, 
and  two  large  Siberian  provinces  outside  of  the  Far  Eastern 
Republic — Irkutsk  and  Tobolsk.) 

AVERAGE  PER  100  PEASANT  HOLDINGS 
Name  of  Implejnent 

_ A _ _ ^ 

Other 

Plows  Tech - 

a  Winnow -  Wagons  nical 


Province 

Single 

Share 

Multi 

Share 

Drill 

Plows  Mowers  Reapers 

Thresh «  ing 
ers  Mach. 

r 

Iron 

a  Imple- 

Wood  ments 

Amur 

83.3 

0.1 

16.0 

14.3 

36.7 

7.7 

19.6 

33.6 

131.7  3.4 

Maritime 

56.5 

0.2 

0.8 

2.2 

11.6 

3.5 

10.0 

26.1 

2.8 

Zabailkal 

39.9 

0.8 

1.1 

7.1 

7.9 

1.9 

7.4 

27.1 

13.6 

Irkutsk 

24.8 

•2.1 

0.4 

2.5 

1.6 

3.8 

10.6 

5.1 

107.0  2.7 

Tobolsk 

55.8 

3.0 

4.6 

0.2 

0.3 

8.7 

13.5 

23.6 

111.4 

Thus  in  agricultural  equipment  also  the  Amur  Province 
occupies  a  high  place,  exceeding  in  number  of  implements  per 
holding  both  the  neighboring  provinces  of  the  Far  Eastern  Re¬ 
public,  and  the  highly  developed  agricultural  provinces  of 
Western  Siberia,  such  as  Tobolsk. 

The  number  of  working  horses  per  holding  is  as  follows: 


Province  No.  of  Horses  per  Holding 

Amur .  3.1 

Maritime .  1.4 

Zabaikal .  3.4 


Thus  in  the  number  of  working  horses  the  agricultural 
Amur  Province  almost  equals  the  cattle  raising  zabaikal  Pro¬ 
vince. 

The  soil  and  climatic  conditions  of  the  Maritime  Province 
are  very  favorable  for  the  raising  of  flax  for  seed  and  fibre. 
Unfortunately  the  conditions  of  life  in  this  province  since  the 
war  and  intervention  were  unfavorable  to  aiding  the  population 
in  the  development  of  this  branch  of  argiculture. 

The  cultivation  of  flax  may  become  a  very  profitable  item 
in  the  budget  of  the  peasant,  and  in  the  north  in  the  swampy 


47 


clayrsh  regions  the  raising  of  flax  for  fibre  may  become  the 
chief  item  for  the  support  of  the  emigrant.  Flax  is  also  culti¬ 
vated  in  the  Amur  Province,  but  in  very  small  quantities.  The 
amount  of  flax  cultivated  in  the  Maritime  Province  is  as  follows: 


Year  Quantity,  in  tons 

1910  .  1,298 

1911  .  2,180 

1912  .  2,938 


Since  that  time  the  cultivation  of  flax  increased,  and  in 
1919,  according  to  the  figures  of  the  Agronomic  Department  of 
the  Centrosoyuz  (Union  of  Cooperatives),  the  figures  were 
23,697  tons,  of  which  1,639  tons  were  kept  for  seeding  pur¬ 
poses.  In  1920,  50  tons  of  flax  were  exported  to  England,  6,708 
tons  were  exported  to  America;  144  tons  to  Czecho-Slovakia; 
54  tons  to  Germany;  3,673  tons  to  Japan;  and,  without  speci¬ 
fication  of  the  country  3,353  tons.  The  total  quantity  of  flax 
exported  was  838,922  poods,  or  13,982  tons.  During  nine 
tmonths  of  1921,  January — September,  the  quantity  of  flax  fibre 
exported  to  Japan  was  835  long  tons,  and  of  flax  seed  exported 
to  Japan,  4,821  long  tons,  and  China  23  long  tons,  a  total  of 
4,844  long  tons. 

Because  of  the  lack  of  proper  organization  for  the  sale  of 
flax,  a  great  quantity  of  it  perishes  in  the  barns  of  the  peasants. 
Local  plants  for  compressing  the  oil  are  very  few,  and  only  a 
small  part  of  the  flax  is  utilized  for  the  production  of  oil.  The 
fibre  is  used  very  little,  primarily  for  clothing.  The  greatest 
part  of  the  fibre  (80% — 90%),  because  of  lack  of  utilization, 
is  thrown  away.  The  cooperatives  are  taking  some  measures 
in  regard  to  the  utilization  of  the  fibre,  and  its  sale  in  the 
British  market,  which  until  the  present  time  has  not  been  done 
in  the  Russian  Far  East.  It  may  give  the  country  a  new  source 
of  revenue,  which  may  amount  to  more  than  10  million  gold 
rubles.  The  sale  of  flax  fibre  is  assured,  as  the  world  market 
is  experiencing  a  shortage  of  flax  since  the  considerable  de¬ 
crease  in  the  quantity  of  flax  exported  from  Russia. 

Hemp  is  produced  in  small  quantities  in  the  Maritime  Pro¬ 
vince  (up  to  1000  tons)  and  in  the  Amur  Province  up  to  500 
tons.  There  Was  no  dehiand  yet  for  the  eastern  Siberian  hemp, 
which  is  the  reason  for  the  insignificant  cultivation  of  it. 


48 


As  the  results  of  the  cultivation  of  tobacco  were  very  sat¬ 
isfactory,  in  the  near  future  it  will  undoubtedly  become  a  large 
item  of  revenue.  Experiments  with  beet  sugar  in  the  Amur 
and  MaritimJe  Provinces  also  proved  very  successful,  and  its 
cultivation  will  probably  be  developed. 

In  order  to  determine  the  consumption  of  grain  and  fodder 
in  the  Far  Eastern  Republic  in  connection  with  their  produc¬ 
tion,  it  is  necessary  to  consult  the  figures  of  the  Ministry  of 
Agriculture  for  the  years  1911-1915,  and  separately  for  1917. 
Since  that  time  there  were  changes  in  the  number  of  popula¬ 
tion  and  these  changes  will  have  to  be  takn  into  consideration 
when  calculating  the  amount  of  grain  that  is  being  consumed. 
The  increase  in  the  population  in  the  Russian  Far  East  took 
place  primarily  in  the  cities  and  not  in  the  rural  communities. 
In  calculating  the  consumption  of  grain,  the  following  aver¬ 
age  figure  is  taken  per  person  in  a  year  in  the  city  and  in  the 
village:  14  poods  20  lbs.  of  wheat;  35  lbs.  of  rye;  41bs.  of  barley 
(or  buckwheat) ;  11  poods  22  lbs.  of  potatoes  (4  poods  of  pota- 
toes=l  pood  of  bread) ;  a  total  of  19  poods  14  lbs.  or  about 
19%  poods  of  grain  products  per  person.  These  figures  have 
previously  been  used  in  statistical  estimates  in  Russia. 

From  Table  A,  (see  page  50)  printed  below,  it  is  evident 
that  for  the  entire  population  of  Far  Eastern  Republic,  it  is 
necessary  to  have,  in  round  figures: 

Quantity  in  poods 


Province 


Grain  Products  Potatoes 


Zabaikal  and  Pribaikal .... 

Amur . 

Maritime  and  Priam ur.  .  .  . 

Total .... 

Table  B  (see  page  51)  shows 
fodder  necessary  per  year: 


13,897,000  10,372,000 

6,190,000  4,620,000 

11,328,000  8,455,000 

31,415,000  23,447,000 

the  approximate  amount  of 


Province 

Zabaikal  and  Pribaikal 

Amur . 

Maritime  and  Priamur. 

Total 


Fodder  in  poods 
36,000,000 
5,300,000 
6,000,000 
47,300,000 


Table  C  (see  page  51)  shows  v/hat  the  Provinces  of  the  Far 
Eastern  Republic  produced  during  the  year  of  1917. 


Province 

Zabaikal  and  Pribaikal 

Amur  . 

Maritime  and  Priamur. . 

Total . 


Grain  Products  Fodder 
POODS 
17,674,000  8,591,000 

9,760,000  10,667,000 

6,524,000  7,120,000 

.  33,958,000  26,378,000 


Potatoes 

2,520,000 

3,000,000 

7,715,000 

13,235,000 


In  other*  words,  according  to  the  figures  of  1917  (see 
Table  D,  page  51)  the  Provinces  of  the  Far  Eastern  Republic 
produced  2 y2  million  poods  of  grain  beyond  the  requirements 
of  the  population,  but  were  short  21  million  poods  of  fodder, 
and  over  ten  million  poods  of  potatoes. 

According  to  the  average  figures  for  1911-1915,  (Table  E 
page  52)  the  following  is  the  situation  showing  the  production 
in  the  Provinces. 


POODS 
Province  Grain  Products  Fodder 


Zabaikal  and  Pribaikal 

Amur . 

Maritime  and  Priamur. . 

Total . 


13,567,000  3,976,000 

6,809,000  6,339,000 

3,216,000  3,678,000 

23,592,000  13,993,000 


Potatoes 

1,680,000 

2,975,000 

6,366,000 

11,121,000 


Taking  into  consideration  the  reqquirements  of  the  popu¬ 
lation  as  shown  above,  the  results  are  as  follows:  the  popu¬ 
lation  of  the  provinces  was  short: — grain  products  about  8 
million  poods;  fodder  over  23  million  poods,  and  potatoes  over 
12  million  poods. 

If  the  Provinces  are  considered  separately  the  following  is 
the  situation: 


1.  According  to  the  figures  of  1917  the  Zabaikal  Province,, 
together  with  the  Pribaikal  Province  (in  former  years  these 
two  provinces  were  one),  had  a  surplus  of  grain  products  of 
over  3y2  million  poods.  It  was  short  over  27  million  poods  of 
fodder,  and  nearly  8  million  poods  of  potatoes. 

According  to  the  figures  of  1911-1915,  there  was  a  short¬ 
age  of  grain  products  annually  of  over  300,000  poods,  of  fodder 
over  32  million  poods,  and  of  potatoes  over  8  million  poods. 
Thus  it  is  evident  that  the  Zabaikal  region  did  not  produce  a 
sufficiency  of  potatoes  and  fodder  while  of  grain  products  there 
was  sometimes  a  surplus  which  to  a  certain  degree  covered  the 
shortage  of  fodder  and  of  potatoes.  The  state  of  affairs  in  the 


50 


Zabaikal  region  in  general  is  such  that  from  two  to  three  mil¬ 
lion  poods  of  grain  have  to  be  imported.  This  is  explained  by 
the  fact  that  the  neighboring  Irkutsk  Province  does  not  pro¬ 
duce  a  sufficient  quantity  of  grain  and  has  to  buy  froim  its 
neighbor  up  to  one-half  million  poods.  Also,  the  consumption 
is  somewhat  greater  than  the  average,  and  that  explains  the 
necessity  of  importing  such  a  quantity  of  grain  (from  30,000- 
50,000  tons). 

2.  According  to  the  figures  of  1917,  the  Amur  Province 
had  a  surplus  of  grain  products  of  over  3%  million  poods,  a 
surplus  of  fodder  of  over  5  million  poods,  and  a  shortage  of 
potatoes  of  over  iy2  million  poods.  According  to  the  figures  of 
1911-1915,  issued  by  the  Ministry  of  Agriculture,  the  surplus  of 
grain  products  was  600,000  poods,  of  fodder  over  1,000,000 
poods,  and  a  shortage  of  potatoes  of  over  1  y2  million  poods. 
These  figures  for  the  Amur  Province  are  undoubtedly  not  ex¬ 
act,  as  local  statistics  show  a  greater  surplus  of  grain  products. 
The  figures  for  the  crops  of  1918  (28,505,235  poods)  shows  a 
surplus  of  over  8  million  poods,  over  the  crops  for  1917.  Com¬ 
pared  with  the  figures  of  the  Ministry  of  Agriculture,  the  1918 
crop  was  15,000,000  poods  greater  than  the  average  crop  for 
the  years  1911-1915.  It  is  clear  that  the  Amur  Province  is  not 
only  self-sufficient,  but  even  with  an  unsatisfactory  crop  it  pro¬ 
duces  a  surplus.  Part  of  the  grain  is  shipped  to  the  other  side 
of  the  Amur  River  for  the  Chinese,  and  part  is  exported  to  other 
provinces,  if  the  population  of  these  provinces  has  the  purchas¬ 
ing  equivalent.  Otherwise  the  grain  accumulates  in  the  barns 
of  the  peasants.  The  consumption  of  grain  in  the  Amur  Pro¬ 
vince  is  greater  than  in  the  other  provinces.  It  may  be  stated 
with  certainty  that  the  Amur  Province  could  always  export  up 
to  3,000,000  poods  of  grain. 

3.  According  to  the  figures  of  1917  the  Maritime  Pro¬ 
vince  was  short  of  nearly  5,000,000  poods  of  grain  products, 
and  had  a  surplus  of  over  1,000,000  poods  of  fodder,  and  a 
shortage  of  700,000  poods  of  potatoes.  According  to  the  fig¬ 
ures  of  1911-1915  the  shortage  of  grain  products  was  8,000,000 
poods,  of  fodder  over  2,000,000  poods,  and  of  potatoes  over 
2,000,000  poods.  Thus  the  Maritime  Province  had  to  import 
from  4,000,000  to  8,000,000  poods.  The  shortage  of  individual 


51 


years  is  partly  covered  by  the  surplus  of  fodder  which  equals 
from  1,000,000  to  2,000,000  poods.  The  Maritime  Provincial 
Zemstvo  estimated  that  the  shortage  of  wheat  for  the  rural 
population  of  the  province  for  1919  was  1,800,000  poods.  To¬ 
gether  with  the  city  population  it  can  be  considered  from 
4,000,000  to  4,500,000  poods.  Grain  products  used  to  be  ex¬ 
ported  from  the  Maritime  Province  to  Kamchatka  and  some¬ 
what  to  the  Kolym  region  (of  the  Yakutsk  Province).  Be¬ 
cause  of  this  it  was  necessary  to  import  another  500,000  poods 
of  grain.  On  the  average  it  may  be  considered  that  the  Mari- 
tiJfrie  Province  has  to  import  from  5,000,000  to  6,000,000  poods 
of  grain. 

Adding  to  these  figures  the  imporation  of  the  Zabaikal 
and  Pribaikal  provinces  of  2,000,000  to  3,000,000  poods,  there 
is  the  necessity  of  importing  from  7,000,000  to  9,000,000  poods 
of  grain.  Part  of  these  requirements  could  be,  and  are,  covered 
by  the  surplus  of  the  Amur  Province.  On  the  average  it  may 
be  necessary  to  import  from  Manchuria  from  5,000i,000  to 
7,000,000  poods,  i.  e.,  80,000  to  120,000  tons,  of  grain  products 
annually.  Thus  the  Far  Eastern  Republic  is  confronted  by 
the  problem,  not  only  of  increasing  the  area  of  cultivation,  but 
also  of  introducing  agricultural  machinery  in  the  Zabaikal, 
Pribaikal  and  Maritime  Provinces,  so  that  the  standard  of  their 
production  would  at  least  equal  that  of  the  Amur  Province. 
This  undoubtedly  would  at  once  end  the  necessity  of  importing 
grain  from  Manchuria,  for  covering  the  shortage  not  speaking 
of  the  possibility  of  exporting  the  surplus. 

TABLE  A 


Population  and  Consumption  of  Grain  Products 
(annual  requirements  according  to  statistical  estimates) 
Rural  &  Urban 


Province 

Population 

Rye 

Wheat 

Barley 

Potatoes 

Zabaikal  and 

Pribaikal  . . 

. .  898,000 

785,750 

13,021,000 

89,800 

10,371,900 

Amur  . 

. .  400,000 

350,000 

5,800,000 

40,000 

4,620,000 

Maritime  and 

Priamur  . . . 

. .  732,000 

640,500 

10,614,000 

73,200 

8,454,600 

TOTAL 

. .  *2,030,000 

1,776,250 

29,435,000 

193,000 

23,446,500 

Remark:  The  average  requirements  per  person  per  year  are:  wheat — 14  poods  20  lbs.; 

barley — 4  lbs.;  rye — 35  lbs.;  potatoes — 11  poods  221bs.  (equal  to  4  poods 
of  grain) ;  total  requirements  per  person  per  year — 19.5  poods  of  grain. 


52 


TABLE  B 

Quantity  of  Cattle  and  Consumption  of  Food  by  Them 
(according  to  Agricultural  Census  of  1916) 

(in  thousands  of  heads  and  poods) 

Horses  Work  Rest  Large  Medium — Small 

Age  Animals  Animals  Total  incl 


A 

_ 

Total  Rea. 

Rea.  for 

Quant. 

- f 

Quant. 

Quant,  feed  cattle  horses  in 

Thous. 

feed 

Thous. 

feed 

Thous. 

feed 

in  villages 

in  cities 

Province  heads 

poods 

heads 

poods 

heads 

poods 

poods 

poods 

Zabaikal  and 

Pribaikal  610 

12,200 

1,400 

14,000 

1,910 

9,550 

33,750 

36,000 

Amur  147 

2,940 

137 

1,370 

164 

820 

5,130 

5,300 

Maritime  and 

Priamur  122 

2,440 

213 

■2,130 

210 

1,050 

5,620 

6,000 

TOTAL  879 

1,750 

2,284 

47,300 

Remark:  In  this  table  the 

average  requirement 

is  based 

on  the  following: 

working 

horse  requires  20  poods;  other  large  animals  10  poods;  medium  and  small 
animals  5  poods  of  fodder. 


TABLE  C 

Average  Crop  of  the  Principal  Grain  Products  and  Potatoes 
(In  thousands  of  poods) 

Total  Grain  Prod.  Total  Fodder  Potatoes 


A K. 


Rye 

1917 

Wheat 

1917 

Buck- 

Wheat 

1917 

1917 

Aver. 

1911- 

1915 

0at9 

1917 

Barley 

1917 

1917 

Aver. 

1911- 

1915 

1917 

Aver. 

1911- 

1915 

Zabaikal  with 

Pribaikal 

11236 

4484 

2054 

17674 

13567 

7026 

1565 

8591 

3976 

2520 

1680 

Amur 

554 

8959 

147 

9760 

6809 

10600 

64 

10667 

6339 

3000 

2975 

Maritime  with 

Priamur 

184 

3431 

2909 

6524 

3216 

7120 

7120 

3678 

7715 

6366 

TABLE  D 

Surplus  and  Shortage 

(according  to  the  figures  of  the  Ministry  of  Agriculture  for  1911) 
(in  thousands  of  poods) 

Net  Crop  Consumption 


Province 

Products 

1917 

Requirements  Surplus 

Shortage 

Grain 

17,674 

13,897 

3,777 

Zabaikal  and  Pribaikal 

Fodder 

8,591 

36,000 

27,409 

Potatoes 

2,520 

10,372 

7,852 

Grain 

9,760 

6,190 

3,570 

Amur . 

Fodder 

10,667 

5,300 

5,367 

Potatoes 

3,000 

4,620 

1,620 

Grain 

6,524 

11,328 

4,804 

Maritime  and  Priamur. 

Fodder 

7,120 

6,000 

1,120 

Potatoes 

7,715 

8,455 

740 

53 


TABLE  E 


Surplus  and  Shortage 

(according  to  figures  of  Ministry  of  Agriculture  for  1911-1915) 
(in  thousands  of  poods) 


Net  Crop  Consumption 


Province 

Products 

1911-1915  Requirements  Surplus 

Shortage 

Grain  Prod. 

13,567 

13,897 

330 

Zabaikal  and  Pribaikal 

Fodder 

3,976 

36,000 

32,024 

Potatoes 

1,680 

10,372 

8,692 

Grain  Prod. 

6,809 

6,190 

619 

Amur . 

Fodder 

6,339 

5,300 

1,039 

Potatoes 

2,975 

4,620 

1,645 

Grain  Prod. 

3,216 

11,328 

8,112 

Maritime  and  Priamur. 

Fodder 

3,678 

6,000 

2,322 

Potatoes 

6,366 

8,455 

2,089 

54 


CHAPTER  VII. 


APICULTURE. 

In  the  Maritime  Province  apiculture  is  gradually  beginning 
to  prove  a  source  of  income  to  the  farmer,  and  peasants  are 
beginning  to  give  serious  attention  to  it.  During  the  yar  1912, 
42,858  poods  of  honey  were  produced,  and  21,670  poods  of 
honey  were  sold,  value  of  which  amounted  to  130,020  gold 
rubles.  The  wax  produced  was  4,301  poods,  of  which  2,351 
poods  were  sold,  the  value  being  42,318  gold  rubles.  Since  that 
ti[me  the  production  increased  up  to  70,000  or  80,000  poods. 
Chemical  analysis  of  Ussuri  honey  showed  that  it  is  one  of 
the  best  in  the  world.  In  1914,  the  number  of  bee  hives  was 
200,000.  The  average  number  of  bee  hives  is  from  150,000 
to  225,000. 


55 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


CATTLE  BREEDING. 

Cattle  breeding  in  the  Far  Eastern  Republic  occupies  a 
very  important  place  in  the  economic  life  of  the  country.  It 
gives  an  opportunity  to  export  hides,  wool,  fats,  bristle,  hair, 
casings.  The  Zabaikal  and  Pribaikal  Provinces,  which  are 
neighboring  with  the  cattle  breeding  Mongolia,  are  considered 
the  principle  cattle  breeding  provinces.  In  the  Amur  and  Ma¬ 
ritime  Provinces  the  number  of  cattle  is  increasing,  but  it  is 
far  behind  the  number  of  cattle  in  the  Zabaikal  region.  The 
following  table  gives  the  census  of  cattle  in  the  various  pro¬ 
vinces  of  the  Republic  in  1916. 


TABLE  I. 


Zabaikal 

Maritime 

Kind  of  Animal 

and 

Amur 

and 

Pribaikal 

Priamur 

Horse  . 

606,162 

146,862 

121,695 

Horned  Animals.. 

1,392,331 

136,798 

212,338 

Sheep  . 

1,314,684 

22,917 

4,101 

Goats  . 

249,772 

514 

3,465 

Pigs  . 

334,882 

140,051 

145,466 

Varia  . 

9,979 

9 

4,957 

Total .... 

3,907,800 

447,151 

492,022 

Thus,  according 

to  the  census 

of  1916,  the 

total  number 

of  cattle  in  the  Republic  was  4,846,973.  Adding  to  it  the  calves, 
and  city  horses,  the  number  will  exceed  by  far  5,000,000. 

The  number  of  cattle  per  peasant  holding,  and  the  quan¬ 
tity  of  hay  consumed,  is  evident  from  the  following  table : 

56 


TABLE  2 


%  Hay  fields 

Classification  of  Animals  compared 

_ a _  with 


Working 

Sheep 

Aci-es  Cul-  total  cultU 
tivated  vated  area 

Province 

Zabaikal  and 

Horse 

Cows  &  Goats  Pigs 

No.  Per  Peasant  Holding 

Total 

for  Hay 

Per  Peasant  Holding 

Pribaikal  . 

3.4 

3.8 

11.5 

2.4 

28.7 

19.8  192.3 

Amur  . 

Maritime  and 

3.1 

1.4 

0.7 

3.4 

11.8 

11.1  27.3 

Priamur  . . 

1.4 

1.2 

0.2 

3.4 

8.8 

2.7  54.4 

From  this  table  it  is  evident  that  the  Zabaikal  Province 
occupies  the  first  place  in  the  number  of  cattle,  the  Amur  Pro¬ 
vince  the  second  place,  and  the  Maritime  Province  the  last.  As 
compared  with  the  Siberian  Provinces  outside  of  the  Far  East¬ 
ern  Republic,  in  cattle  breeding  the  Zabaikal  Province  is  second 
only  to  Semipalatinsk  Province,  where  per  each  holding  the 
average  number  of  animals  is  31.9.  In  the  number  of  working 
horses  the  Amur  Province  is  very  close  to  the  Zabaikal,  wfliich 
is  explained  by  the  fact  that  the  Amur  Province  as  a  producer 
of  grain  products  requires  the  greatest  number  of  Working 
horses.  The  relation  of  areas  under  hay  cultivation  and  the 
total  cultivated  area  also  clearly  demonstrates  the  character  of 
the  various  provinces  of  the  Far  Eastern  Republic  in  regard  to 
cattle  breeding. 

Cattle  breeding  as  part  of  the  agricultural  industry  is  con¬ 
stantly  growing  in  the  Amur  Province  as  well  as  in  the  Ma¬ 
ritime  Province,  in  quantity  as  well  as  in  quality.  As  compared 
with  1910,  the  number  of  cattle  in  the  Amur  Province  in  1917 
increased  by  45%.  The  sheep  breeding  is  developed  only  in 
the  Zabaikal  Province.  The  sheep  are  mostly  of  Mongolian 
extraction,  more  rarely  of  Manchurian.  There  are  also  sheep 
of  breed  mixed  with  merino.  Of  farm  horses,  the  Amur  horse 
is  of  a  very  good  quality  and  large  size.  The  Amur  Molokans 
(a  religious  sect  which  emigrated  from  southeastern  Russia 
where  good  breeds  of  horses  are  raised)  are  responsible  for  the 
good  breed  of  the  Amur  horse.  In  the  Amur  Province  there 
are  known  to  be  200  thorough-bred  stallions  and  500  mares 
which  greatly  facilitated  the  improving  of  the  breed  of  local 


57 


horse.  Milch  cows  of  the  Republic  are  mostly  of  local  breeds; 
of  Manchurian  and  Mongolian,  and  in  the  southern  part  of  the 
Maritime  region,  the  Korean  breed.  The  cows  of  these  breeds 
give  little  milk.  There  are  cows  of  cultured  breeds:  Simental, 
Holland  and  others.  The  frosts  are  very  bad  for  the  good  breed¬ 
ing  of  cows.  The  best  cows  are  those  brought  from  western 
Siberia,  primarily  from  Tomsk.  They  do  not  require  special 
care,  give  a  sufficient  quantity  of  milk,  especially  if  properly 
cared  for.  The  pigs  are  principally  of  Manchurian  breed,  al¬ 
though  there  are  some  of  the  mixture  of  cultured  breeds,  such 
as  Yorkshire  and  Berkshire.  This  breed  produces  very  good  re¬ 
sults;  a  four  month  old  pig  of  mixed  breed  is  equal  in  weight  to 
a  year  old  pig  of  local  breed. 

Deer  breeding  can  become  a  very  profitable  source  of  in¬ 
come  in  the  agricultural  life  of  the  Amur  and  Maritime  Pro¬ 
vinces  because  of  the  demand  for  the  horns  of  deer  while  in  vel¬ 
vet  (used  in  medicine).  In  the  Maritime  Province  this  branch 
of  animal  breeding  is  already  being  developed  by  some  people. 
The  price  of  a  pair  of  deer  horns  (including  the  forehead)  is 
from  100  to  800  gold  rubles.  The  meat  of  deer  is  also  used  for 
food. 

Until  the  present  time  the  Russian  Far  East  did  not  com¬ 
pletely  meet  its  requirements  of  meat,  which  are  about  35,000 
tons.  The  shortage  was  supplied  from  Mongolia.  To  the 
Amur  gold  mines  cattle  and  meat  were  shipped  across  Man¬ 
churian  cities  Aigun,  Sakhalyan  (which  is  located  on  the  Chin¬ 
ese  side  of  the  Amur  River  opposite  Bla.goveshchensk),  and 
floated  on  the  river  Sungari.  To  the  Maritime  Province  meat 
and  cattle  were  shipped  across  Manchuria  and  partially  through 
the  port  of  Vladivostok  from'  Chinese  ports.  It  was  also  shipped 
through  the  city  of  Hunchun  which  is  close  to  the  frontier,  and 
where  there  is  a  special  Russian  plague  quarantine  station  for 
animals. 

The  Zabaikal  Province  can  produce  120,000  poods  and 
more,  of  sheep  wool  for  export,  but  this  amount  cannot  be 
taken  as  an  average,  as  it  depends  on  conditions.  This  is  evid¬ 
ent  by  comparing  the  figures  of  exports  of  wool  for  1919  and 
1920.  According  to  the  figures  of  the  railroad  freight  during 
the  year  1919  from  the  Zabaikal  Railroad  to  the  Ussuri  Rail- 


58 


road  there  were  carried  to  Vladivostok  for  export  112,402  poods 
of  sheep  wool  and  11,029  poods  of  camel  wool. 

During  1920,  the  year  of  disorders  in  the  Zabaikal  Region 
because  of  the  athrocities  of  Semonoff  and  the  Japanese,  the 
situation  is  altogether  different. 


Kinds  of  Wool  Exp.  to  Japan 

Exp.  to  U. 

S.  Total 

Pood 

s 

Catnel  Wool  . 

.  .  800 

800 

Sheep  Wool  . 

20 

66 

86 

Goat  Wool  . 

10 

— 

10 

Mongolian  Wool  . 

35 

270 

305 

Lamb  Wool  . . 

.  .  .  — 

800 

800 

Total  to  other  countries .  .  — 

— 

1,161 

Total.  .  .  . 

.  .  .  865 

1,136 

3,162 

The  same  situation 

may  be  observed  in  regard  to  hides 

and  horse  hair  and  bristle.  While  in 

the  pre-war 

years  over 

150,000  poods  of  hides  were  exported, 

during  the  latter  years 

the  quantity  was  greatly  reduced. 

During  the  year  1920  the  following  quantity  of  bristle  was 

exported : 

Total  to 

Exp.  to 

Exp.  to 

Other 

Kind  of  Bristle 

Japan 

U.  S. 

Countries 

Pood 

s 

Bristle,  Unsorted  .... 

462 

— 

462 

Bristle,  Raw  . 

77 

25 

102 

Bristle,  Uncleaned  .  .  . 

980 

— 

980 

Bristle,  all  sorts . 

2,775 

166 

2,941 

Unsorted,  exported 

generally  abroad  .  . . 

— 

— 

13 

Uncleaned,  exported 

generally  abroad  .  . . 

— 

— 

108 

All  kinds,  exported 

abroad  . 

— 

— 

846 

Total . 

4,294 

294 

5,555 

The  year  1920  was 

a  very  difficult  year  for  the  Russian 

Far  East.  The  various 

provinces  were  separated  from  each 

59 


other,  and  Vladivostok  was  cut  off  from  the  producing  regions. 
In  connection  with  this  all  production  in  the  producing  regions 
was  greatly  diminished.  Business  was  also  very  poor  during  the 
first  nine  months  of  1921,  January  to  September,  and  through 
Vladivostok  there  was  exported  only  100  long  tons  of  wool.  The 
Improvement  in  the  exports  through  Vladivostok  may  be  ex¬ 
pected  only  with  the  departure  of  the  Japanese  troops,  when  the 
population  will  feel  secure  from  one  day  to  the  next. 


CHAPTER  IX. 


INDUSTRIES  OF  THE  FAR  EASTERN  REPUUBLIC. 

The  vast  area  of  the  Republic  which  is  fit  for  agriculture 
and  cattle  breeding,  the  wide  forest  areas,  the  colossal  mineral 
wealth,  and  the  inexhaustible  fishing  resources  in  themselves 
presuppose  the  future  of  the  Republic,  at  least  in  the  nearest 
future,  as  a  country  primarily  of  the  basic  industry  type  rather 
than  of  the  manufacturing  industry  type. 

The  utilization  of  3,500,000  acres  of  land  out  of  the 
54,000,000  acres  fit  for  cultivation  on  the  one  hand,  and  the 
shortage  of  grain  products  on  the  other,  make  it  imperative  to' 
increase  the  area  of  cultivation.  The  existence  of  the  neighbor¬ 
ing  vast  Manchurian  grain  market  limits  the  development  of  the 
area  of  cultivation  of  grain  products  to  the  requirements  of  the 
Republic.  This  neighboring  market  makes  the  farmer  interested 
in  the  production  of  technical  plants,  such  as  flax,  hemp,  and 
tobacco.  This  is  also  facilitated  by  the  already  achieved  success 
and  the  favorable  soil  and  climatic  conditions.  This  is  particular¬ 
ly  true  as  regards  flax.  This  increase  in  the  cultivation  of  flax 
puts  forward  the  issue  of  the  vegetable  oil  industry  Which 
at  the  present  time  is  in  its  infant  stages  in  the  Republic.  The 
considerable  size  of  the  cattle  breeding  industry  will  make  it 
possible  in  the  near  future  to  develop  the  preparation  of  animal 
products  to  a  considerable  extent.  This  development  is  al¬ 
ready  taking  place  in  the  Zabaikal  region,  in  the  Amur  Pro¬ 
vinces,  and  in  the  Maritime  Province,  but  did  not  attain  the  size 
possible  in  proportion  to  the  existing  resources.  This  is  true 
in  regard  to  the  leather,  wool  and  soap  making  industries.  The 
forest  area,  which  is  over  300,000,000  acres,  is  abundant  with 
first  class  pine,  spruce,  larch,  cedar,  oak,  etc.,  and  opens  wide 
possibilities  for  the  timber  industry,  for  paper,  match  and  oil 
industries.  The  latter  industry  (preparation  of  cedar  nut  oil) 


61 


up  to  the  present  time  was  developed  on  a  very  small  scale. 
The  export  of  timber  did  not  exceed  a  few  million  gold  rubles 
annually,  while  the  resources  are  such  that,  if  properly  deve¬ 
loped,  the  revenue  for  the  government  treasury  can  nearly  cover 
the  annual  budget  of  the  country.  The  mineral  wealth  m|akes 
it  possible  to  develop  industries  such  as  the  gold  industry,  which, 
since  the  time  of  the  revolution,  has  fallen  oft  considerably; 
the  presence  of  vast  resources  assures  a  great  future  to  this  in¬ 
dustry.  The  same  thing  may  be  said  in  regard  to  the  iron  and 
silver-lead  industries.  There  is  only  one  iron  manufacturing 
plant,  the  Petrovsk  works,  the  capacity  of  which  is  4,000  tons 
of  iron  and  iron  products,  while  the  requirements  of  the  repub¬ 
lic  are  70,000  tons  annually.  The  presence  of  the  market  on 
one  hand  and  the  resources  (ores)  on  the  other,  create  a  basis 
for  the  development  of  the  iron  industry.  This  will  be  facil¬ 
itated  by  the  tremendous  requirements  of  the  neighboring  mar¬ 
ket  of  the  rest  of  Siberia.  Regarding  the  existing  lead-silver 
industry,  it  may  be  stated  that  it  is  very  small  if  the  500  known 
deposits  are  taken  into  consideration.  The  coal  industry,  for 
which  resources  of  coal  are  known  to  be  about  40,000,000,000 
poods  (not  including  Sakhalin),  prior  to  the  war  produced  about 
65,000,000  poods  annually,  and  now  produces  about  50,000,000 
poods.  This  also  cannot  be  considered  as  a  satisfactory  stage 
of  development.  The  production  during  the  period  between 
1905-1919  of  8,580  poods  of  tungsten  with  the  known  large  de¬ 
posits  indicates  the  infant  stage  of  the  development  of  this 
mining  industry.  At  the  present  time  even  this  small  mining 
of  tungsten  has  practically  ceased.  The  exploitation  of  the  vast 
resources  of  Sakhalin  oil  did  not  even  begin. 

This  remarkable  contrast  between  the  mining  industry 
and  its  possibilities  has  its  justification:  the  absence  of  capital 
and  technical  equipment  and  the  shortage  of  technical  per¬ 
sonnel.  If  to  this  should  be  added  the  unfavorable  conditions 
created  by  armed  intervention,  then  the  picture  Is  clear.  The 
vast  resources  of  fish  in  the  waters  of  the  Republic  make  pos¬ 
sible  not  only  the  suplying  of  the  population,  but  also  the  ex¬ 
portation  of  over  100,000  tons  annually.  The  canning  industry 
which  was  just  beginning  to  develop  was  destroyed  by  Japanese 
aggression,  and  will  undoubtedly  become  one  of  the  important 

62 


industries  of  the  Republic  after  the  departure  of  the  Japanese 
from  the  coastal  territory  of  the  Far  Eastern  Republic. 

Thus  from  this  brief  sketch  it  is  evident  that  speaking  of 
the  industries  of  the  Far  Eastern  Republic  it  is  necessary  to 
speak  not  so  much  of  the  present,  when  the  industries  are  prac¬ 
tically  in  their  embryonic  stages,  but  of  the  future,  and  of  the 
resources  and  possibilities  that  would  follow  the  application  of 
sufficient  capital. 

THE  ZA BAIKAL  AND  PRIBAIKAL  PROVINCES. 

Comparing  the  figures  printed  below  for  the  years  1898- 
1910,  which  give  the  number  of  going  enterprises,  it  is  evident 
that  the  industry  of  this  province  (including  the  Pribaikal  Pro¬ 
vince)  was  begining  to  develop  and  grow. 

Industry  No.  of  Enterprises 


1898 

1910 

Manufacturing 

from 

Vegetable  Products 

36 

187 

Manufacturing 

from 

Animal  Products.  .  . 

85 

96 

Since  that  time  up  to  1916,  although  the  development  was 
slower,  it  was  steadily  increasing,  especially  during  the  war, 
but  since  1916,  and  espevially  since  1917,  the  first  year  of  the 
revolution,  the  number  of  industries  declined. 

The  causes  of  the  retarded  development  from  1910  to  1916 
are  as  follows: 

1.  Lack  of  technisal  equipment  for  the  industrial  enter¬ 
prises. 

1.  Lack  of  technical  equipment  for  the  industrial  enter- 

3.  Lack  of  free  capital  among  the  local  population  which 
could  place  enterprises  in  their  proper  standing  so  as  to  be  able 
to  compete  with  the  Russian  products  which  were  being 
brought  into  the  Far  East  at  that  time. 

According  to  the  figures  of  freight  carried  on  the  Zabaikal 
Railroad  in  1912  the  exportation  of  raw  hides  from  the  pro¬ 
vince  was  153,898  poods;  of  raw  furs,  75,558  poods,  and  tins 
was  the  situation  when  there  were  40  tanneries  in  the  province 
(it  is  true  that  the  majority  of  these  lacked  mechanical  equip¬ 
ment)  . 

From  the  figures  of  freight  carried  on  the  Zabaikal  Rail¬ 
road  it  is  evident  that  during  the  same  year  304,735  poods  of 


63 


machinery  were  brought  into  the  province,  of  which  219,870 
poods  were  agricultural  machines,  and  the  rest  machinery  for 
manufacturing  purposes,  and  in  this  must  be  included  those  for 
the  gold  mining  industry  and  the  coal  mining  industry.  Thus 
machinery  imported  for  actual  manufacturing  purposes  was 
only  a  small  part  of  the  total  imports  of  machinery. 

From  the  beginning  of  the  World  War,  when  the  importa¬ 
tion  of  manufactured  products  from  Russia  decreased,  the  ma¬ 
nufacturing  industry  improved  somewhat  in  the  province,  par¬ 
ticularly  the  industry  engaged  in  the  development  of  animal 
products,  for  which  raw  materials  (hides,  fats,  wool)  were 
present  in  large  quantities,  there  also  being  a  permanent  supply 
of  raw  materials  from  Mongolia.  Tanning  materials  for  the 
tanneries  (oak  and  willow  bark)  were  to  be  had  in  abundance, 
and  there  was  always  plenty  of  local  soda  for  soap  manufac¬ 
turing.  Although  due  to  the  abundance  of  animal  products 
the  industry  ought  to  develop  and,  apparently,  should  surpass 
any  other  industry  in  the  country,  in  reality  its  total  produc¬ 
tion  is  considerably  less  than  the  industry  engaged  in  the  de¬ 
velopment  of  vegetable  products.  The  cause  of  this,  as  was 
already  stated,  is  that  the  majority  of  the  factories  and  shops 
lacked  mechanical  equipment.  This  applies  to  the  tanneries, 
soap  making,  candle  making,  and  wool  manufacturing  plants. 
The  number  of  the  more  or  less  large  factories  in  the  province 
may  be  seen  from  the  folowing  table  in  the  districts  Zabaikal, 
Pribaikal,  and  Sretensk-Nerchinsk,  which  belong  to  the  Pro¬ 
vinces  Zabaikal  and  Pribaikal: 

Sretensk- 

Pribaikal  District  Zabaikal  District  Nerchinsk  District 


No.  of 

Name  of  Industry  Plants 
Hide  tanneries  . .  10 

Soap  Making 

Factories  .  7 

Sheep  skin  tanneries  5 
felt  boots  factories. . . . 
Candle  making  factories. . 


Annual  No.  of 
Production  Plants 

96,000  hides  5 

140,000  poods  2 

48,000  skins  7 

15,000  pair 

.  1 


Annual  No.  of  Annual 
Production  Plants  Production 
30,000  hides  3  30,000  hides 


180,000  poods  5  72,000  poods 

100,000  skins  3  30,000  skins 


10,000  poods  2 


18,000  poods 


Thus  there  were  18  more  or  less  large  tanneries  in  the  Za¬ 
baikal  and  Pribaikal  Provinces  whose  annual  production  was 
156,000  hides.  There  were  14  soap  making  factories  with  an 


64 


annual  production  of  392,000  poods;  15  sheep  skin  tanneries 
and  felt  “boot”  factories  with  an  annual  production  of  178,000 
skins  and  15,000  pairs  of  felt  boots;  3  candle  making  plants  with 
an  annual  production  of  28,000  poods. 

Besides  these  there  were  in  the  provinces  25  small  tan¬ 
neries  (without  mechanical  equipment),  which  did  not  work 
during  the  years  1919-1920,  and  only  recently  did  they  gradually 
begin  to  revive. 

The  branch  of  industry  engaging  in  the  development  of 
vegetable  products,  in  the  number  of  plants  and  in  the  quantity 
of  production  stands  higher  than  the  industry  developing  animal 
products.  This  development  is  conected  with  the  development 
of  agriculture  in  this  cattle  breeding  province. 

Besides  the  flour  mills  there  are  distilleries  and  breweries 
well  equipped  technically,  which  sold  their  products  outside  of 
the  province,  vegetable  oil  plants,  etc.  The  number  of  these 
plants  and  their  productivity  can  be  seen  from  the  following 
table : 


Pribaikal  District  Zabaikal  District  Sretensk-Nerchinsk  District 


Name  of 

Plants  Workers 

Plants 

Workers 

Plants  Workers 

Industry 

No.  of  No.  of 

Productivity 

No.  of 

No.  of 

Productivity 

No.  of  No.  of 

Productivity 

Distilleries 

1 

80 

75,000  gal. 

1 

40 

35,000  gal. 

1 

40 

37,000  gal. 

Breweries 

3 

55 

130,000  gal. 

3 

40 

265,000  gal. 

5 

70 

350,000  gal. 

Flour 

Mills 

458 

472 

2,000  tons 

7 

115 

1,500  tons 

13 

40 

1,200  tons 

Oil 

Refineries  2  4  200  tons  .  ...  ....  . .  . .  .... 

Saw  Mills  6  saw  mills  in  the  Province,  with  a  production  of  400,000  logs. 

From  this  table  it  is  evident  from  the  number  of  workers 
employed  that  the  majority  of  the  enterprises  were  small  fac¬ 
tories. 

The  majority  of  the  flour  mills  are  either  wind  mills  or  wa¬ 
ter  mills,  which  employed  only  one  worker.  The  number  of 
creameries  is  extremlely  small  in  spite  of  the  large  cattle  breed¬ 
ing  in  the  province. 

Refineries  obtaining  oil  from  cedar  nuts  would  be  of  tremen¬ 
dous  importance  in  the  Zabaikal  and  Pribaikal  region.  The  Pri¬ 
baikal  region  has  vast  resources  of  cedar  forests  covering  enor¬ 
mous  areas  of  the  basins  of  Rivers  Chikoy  and  Selenga.  The 
local  peasants  distill  oil  and  obtain  frofm  the  remnants,  cakes  by 


65 


hand  process.  In  the  village  Krasny-Yar  it  is  intended  to  put 
into  operation  soon  an  oil  refinery  with  a  capacity  of  40,000 
poods  of  oil  and  120,000  poods  of  cakes  annually. 

Of  great  importance  not  only  for  the  Zabaikal  region  but 
for  the  industry  of  the  Far  Eastern  Republic  would  be  the  es¬ 
tablishment  of  factories  for  the  preparation  of  tanning  extracts 
so  essential  for  tanneries.  In  the  district  of  Verkhneudinsk  and 
Troitskosavsk  counties  there  are  tremendous  quantities  of 
willow,  oak  and  so-called  “bodan”,  and  it  would  be  very  simple 
to  obtain  tanning  extracts  from  their  bark  with  the  aid  of  al¬ 
kalies.  It  is  only  necessary  to  have  kettles  for  boiling,  filters 
and  dryers.  Such  experiments  were  made  in  the  laboratories 
of  the  Verkhneudinsk  Regional  Self-Government,  and  they  gave 
very  positive  results.  The  requirements  of  tanning  extracts 
for  the  tanneries  of  the  Zabaikal  Province  alone  is  not  less  than 
25,000  poods  annually.  Until  now  the  tanning  extracts  were 
received  only  from  abroad. 

The  development  of  mineral  resources  in  the  Zabaikal 
Province  is  in  the  embryonic  state  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  the 
province  is  prosperous  with  the  richest  deposits  of  ores,  strata 
(lime,  clay,  etc.)  soda,  salt,  and  saline  lakes.  There  are  the 
richest  deposits  of  lime  in  the  region  of  Station  Zaigraevo  on 
the  Zabaikal  Railroad,  1),  near  verst  508,  2)  seven  miles  from 
the  above  mentioned  station.  The  lime  deposits  were  inves¬ 
tigated  thoroughly  and  are  of  the  best  quality,  almost  without 
any  mixture  of  silica,  and  its  deposits  amounted  to  tens  of  mil¬ 
lions  of  poods.  These  deposits  are  within  8  and  20  miles  south 
of  Station  Zaigraevo.  They  have  not  been  explored,  but  are 
used  by  the  peasants  who  derive  good  earnings  from  them. 

In  the  same  district  there  are  deposits  of  clay  although  not 
fire-proof,  but  its  contents  are  fit  for  the  production  of  cement. 
The  Bryansk  cement  factory  which  was  built  25  years  ago,  near 
Station  Zaigraevo,  has  been  worked  up  to  1914,  producing  for 
the  market  (primarily  for  the  Zabaikal  Railroad)  150,000  bar¬ 
rels  of  cement  annually.  The  owners  of  the  factory  intended 
to  increase  the  capacity  of  the  factory  up  to  300,000  barrels, 
in  order  to  do  which  a  power  plant  was  imported,  and  set  up, 
with  a  steam  turbine  for  600  kilowatts.  It  was  intended  to 
move  the  plant  to  Junction  37  of  the  Zabaikal  Railroad  where 


66 


the  Tarbogatai  mines  are  located.  Here  the  frame  of  the  fac¬ 
tory  had  been  built,  the  power  plant  moved,  the  pipe  furnace 
put  up,  and  most  of  the  machinery  shipped  from  the  old  plant. 
But  the  war,  and  later  the  revolution  and  intervention,  stopped 
the  further  moving  of  the  plant,  so  important  to  the  Province 
and  the  entire  Republic.  The  question  of  finishing  the  moving 
of  the  plant  and  putting  it  into  operation  is  under  consideration 
by  the  local  government  at  the  present  time.  The  wealth  of 
the  Zabaikal  Province  in  saline  and  soda  lakes  makes  it  pos¬ 
sible  to  develop  highly  the  production  of  sulphate  and  also  ren¬ 
ders  possible  the  development  of  the  glass  industry.  Twenty- 
three  miles  from  the  city  of  Bargusin  there  is  the  Algin  Sul¬ 
phate  factory  which  can  produce  up  to  100,000  poods  of  saline 
and  which  can  be  worked  to  yield  30,000  poods  of  sulphate.  At 
the  present  time,  because  the  owner  lacks  capital,  the  work  in 
the  factory  is  gradually  decreasing.  This  plant  furnishes 
saline  and  sulphate  to  the  Verkhneudinsk  glass  factory. 

About  4  miles  from  Station  Dauria  on  the  Zabaikal  Rail¬ 
road  on  Lake  Shekolan,  there  is  working  another  sulphate  fac¬ 
tory  obtaining  crystallized  saline  from  the  lake.  Its  production 
was  annually  up  to  10,000  poods  of  pure  dry  sulphate. 

In  the  Zabaikal  region  there  are  many  other  saline  lakes 
which  have  been  explored  geologically.  Such  lakes  are:  the 
Kazhar-Shan,  Tsinganar,  Belentuy,  Hangai,  Emikoy,  and  also 
others,  that  are  still  to  be  explored.  The  glass  factory  in  oper¬ 
ation  in  Verkhneudinsk  yields  the  following  annual  production: 
window  glass,  14,000  cases;  bottles,  up  to  500,000;  tumblers,  up 
to  600,000;  lamp  globes,  up  to  200,000;  and  pharmaceutical 
utensils  up  to  1,000,000  pieces. 

The  demands  for  glass  in  the  Zabaikal  and  Amur  Province 
where  there  is  no  production  of  glass  at  all,  is  extreme,  and  the 
Verkhneudinsk  factory  cannot  satisfy  the  demand,  just  as  the 
demand  for  glass  cannot  be  satisfied  by  the  single  glass  factory 
in  the  Maritime  Province.  It  is  necessary  to  utilize  the  saline 
lakes  for  obtaining  the  raw  materials,  and  developing  the  glass 
industry  in  the  Republic  (quartz,  lime,  and  clay  necessary  for 
the  production  may  be  found  on  the  spot  in  various  localities  in 
any  quantity). 

There  are  great  possibilities  in  the  Zabaikal  Province,  be- 


67 


sides  the  production  of  sulphate,  in  obtaining  and  in  the  pro¬ 
duction  of  soda,  crystallized  as  well  as  caustic,  and  calcined. 

Of  the  soda  lakes  the  best  known  and  worthy  of  attention 
is  the  Doronensk  lake,  which  is  located  80  miles  to  the  south  of 
Chita  and  which  has  an  abundance  of  larch  and  pine  forests 
four  nijiles  from  the  River  Ingoda,  which  can  be  used  for  float¬ 
ing  purposes.  Judging  by  the  content  of  soda  in  brine,  from 
8%  to  10%,  and  also  from  the  content  of  raw  soaa  (according 
to  the  calculations  in  1912  by  Chemist  Belousov  this  supply  is 
24,000,000  poods),  it  is  undoubtedly  of  great  industrial  import¬ 
ance.  In  the  winter  time  when  the  temperature  of  the  water 
is  lowered,  the  soda  in  crystal  form  drops  to  the  bottom  of  the 
lake  froim  where  it  may  be  obtained  by  most  elementary  meth¬ 
ods  as  a  pure  product. 

As  soon  as  the  lake  is  covered  by  ice  there  appears  on  the 
ice  the  same  crystallized  soda,  the  layer  of  which  is  sometimes 
1 %  inches  thick.  What  quantity  can  be  obtained  by  the  simple 
process  of  sweeping  off  the  soda  can  be  imagined  when  the  fact 
is  taken  into  consideration  that  the  area  of  the  lake  is  4  square 
kilometers.  In  1920  the  lake  was  investigated  by  an  English 
pompany,  which  intended  to  obtain  100,000  poods  of  crystallic 
soda  annually,  60,000  poods  of  calcined  soda,  20,000  poods  of 
caustic  soda,  and  up  to  200,000  poods  of  cooking  salt.  But  the 
war  prevented  the  realization  of  this  plan.  The  Doronensk 
Lake  belongs  to  one  of  those  gems  of  nature  which  are  scat¬ 
tered  throughout  the  Russian  Far  East,  and  which  await  only 
the  application  of  capital.  Considering  the  fact  that  there  are 
over  100  carbonic  springs  in  the  Zabaikal  region,  it  may  be  ex¬ 
pected  that  there  are  other  such  lakes  there.  No  investigation 
has  been  made  in  that  line  as  yet. 

The  Kiron  cooking  salt  plant  deserves  attention.  It  was 
built  on  the  lake  of  the  same  name,  and  is  20  miles  from  Ky- 
akhta,  and  3  miles  from  Mongolian  frontier,  and  1 %  miles  from 
the  river  Chikoy  which  can  be  used  for  floating  purposes.  In 
1885  a  salt  boiling  plant  was  built  on  the  lake,  and  in  1895  it 
produced  31,000  poods  of  salt,  which  is  the  maximum  of  its 
capacity.  Since  1887,  besides  salt,  there  were  also  produced  as 
by-products  bitter  salts,  and  they  were  reproduced  into  caustic 
soda.  This  salt  plant  is  still  being  worked  by  primitive  meth- 
ods.fl  The  brine  is  prepared  during  the  warm  part  of  the  year, 


68 


i.  e.,  it  is  pumped  into  a  basin  where  by  freezing  in  winter  time 
it  is  separated  from  the  bitter  salts,  and  it  is  placed  in  boilers. 
The  salt  obtained  contains  99.07%  of  sodium  chloride.  The 
Borzin  salt  lake  is  in  the  Aksha  county  not  far  from  Station 
Borzya.  During  the  summer,  when  the  water  is  evaporating, 
the  cooking  salt  precipitates.  The  lake  has  been  little  inves¬ 
tigated,  and  it  is  difficult  to  say  regarding  the  quantity  of  salt 
in  it.  At  the  present  time  local  peasants  obtain  salt  from  it  by 
hand  methods. 


THE  AMUR  PROVINCE. 


The  industry  which  handles  animal  products  in  the  Amur 
Province  is  little  developed,  as  well  as  all  of  the  manufacturing 
industries  of  that  province.  It  is  much  below  the  basic  indus¬ 
tries. 

Of  industries  engaged  in  developing  animal  products  in  the 
Amur  Province  there  are  tanneries,  soap  making,  candle  mak¬ 
ing,  and  felt  making.  The  plants  are  very  small  and  the  major¬ 
ity  of  them  need  mechanical  equipment.  The  number  and  pro¬ 
ductivity  of  plants  can  be  seen  from  the  following  table: 


Name  of  Industry 

Tanneries  . 

Soap  Making  .  .  . 
Candle  Making*.  . 
Felt  Making  .... 

Sheep  coat  making 


No.  of  Plants  Annual  Production 

23  60,000  pieces 

5  24,000  poods 

1  2,500  poods 

18  15,000  pair  felt  boots 

.  15,000  yards  of  felt 

7  5,000  sheep  skins 

1,500  sheepskin  coats 
The  utilization  of  the  vast  fishing  wealth  of  the  Amur  Ri¬ 
ver,  in  the  fish  canning  industry,  is  only  beginning.  Among 
the  manufacturing  industries  the  first  place  belongs  to  those 
developing  vegetable  products.  Due  to  the  great  production 
of  grain,  the  numerous  water  power  mills  and  wind  mills  do  not 
satisfy  the  requirements  of  the  district.  There  is  a  necessity 
for  large  steam  flour  mills.  Most  of  the  existing  steam  flour 
miills  are  located  in  the  city  of  Blagoveshchensk,  where  even 
grain  from  Manchuria  is  milled.  But  the  flour  produced  by 
these  mills  cannot  compete  with  the  flour  imported  from  ab- 
roadfi  from  Manchuria  and  America.  Thus  further  develop- 


69 


ment  of  the  general  flour  milling  industry  of  the  country  is  pos¬ 
sible  only  with  additional  technical  equipment  and  capital. 

Distilling  of  spirits  and  brewing  was  developed  in  this  pro¬ 
vince  to  an  insufficient  degree.  In  the  Amur  Province  there 
were  two  distilleries  and  four  breweries. 

During  the  latter  years  the  manufacturers  planned  to  build 
sugar  refineries  and  for  this  purpose  experiments  were  made  of 
planting  sugar  beets,  which  gave  very  satisfactory  results.  The 
following  table  shows  the  production  of  enterprises  engaged  in 
the  development  of  vegetable  products. 


Name  of  No.  of  No.  of 

Enterprise  Enterprises  Workers  Productivity 

Steam  Flour  Mills...  9  597  up  to  10,000,000  poods 

Spirit  Distilleries....  2  105  up  to  1,000,000  gold  rubls 

Breweries  .  4  200  up  to  700,000  gold  rubls 

Oil  Refineries  .  2  —  up  to  60,000  poods 


In  spite  of  the  vast  forest  resources,  the  timber  industry 
is  not  developed,  and  produced  only  for  local  requirements.  The 
Work  of  the  saw  mills  and  lum/ber  mills  was  confined  to  the  cut¬ 
ting  of  timber,  manufactnring  of  boards  and  beams,  sleepers, 
and  only  partially  staves  for  barrels  and  the  manufacturing  of 
the  latter.  There  are  no  furniture  factories  in  the  province. 

The  match  industry  was  limited  to  one  factory  in  the  city 
of  Blagoveshchensk  where  about  21,000  cases  of  matches  were 
produced  monthly.  The  Blagoveshchensk  matches  were  used 
in  the  Zabaikal  region  also,  but  naturally  there  was  not  enough 
of  them  and  a  great  quantity  of  matches  was  imported  from 
Manchuria  and  Japan. 

The  production  of  chemicals  from  wood,  was  in  an  infant 
stage,  and  there  were  a  few  small  plants  for  dry  distillation  and 
for  the  production  of  turpentine.  These  plants  had  no  mechan¬ 
ical  equipment.  There  are  no  paper  or  cellulois  plants.  Only 
by  an  influx  of  capital  and  the  application  of  mechanical  meth¬ 
ods  can  this  industry  be  developed. 

The  following  table  shows  the  productivity  of  the  plants 
engaged  in  manufacturing  wood  products  in  the  Amur  Pro¬ 
vince. 


70 


No.  of  No.  of 


Name  of  Industry  E 

Saw  Mills  . 

Match  Factories  .  . 


Enterprise*  Workers 


Annual  Production 


Plants  for  dry  wood 

distillation  No  information 


11  206 
1  66 


500,000  logs 
21,000  cases 
130,000  poods  of  tar 
50,000  poods  turpentine 


The  industry  engaged  in  developing  mineral  products  is 
also  in  its  primitive  stage,  in  the  Amur  Province,  in  spite  of  the 
very  large  valuable  mineral  ore  deposits.  The  cause  was  the 
absence  of  mechanical  equipment  and  therefore  the  inability 
to  compete  with  Russian  and  Japanese  products. 

This  was  the  condition  of  the  only  glass  making  factory 
in  the  province  which  obtained  its  raw  materials  on  the  spot, 
(saline,  lime,  quartz). 

According  to  the  statistics,  the  value  of  imported  glass 
products  in  the  province  from  Japan  and  European  Russia  in 
1906,  was  3,000,000  gold  rubles.  In  many  places  there  were 
tremendous  deposits  of  fire-proof  clay  which  is  well  suited  for 
the  production  of  china  and  deposits  of  lime  which,  together 
with  the  clay,  and,  considering  the  presence  of  mineral  coal  in 
the  province,  would  make  it  profitable  to  build  cement  factories 
in  the  province. 

The  manufacture  of  metals  and  machine  production  are 
also  of  great  importance  to  the  country  in  view  of  the  considre- 
able  use  of  agricultural  machinery  and  the  development  of  river 
shipping. 

In  Blagoveshchensk  in  1906  there  were  five  mechanical 
plants  engaged  in  the  production  of  pig  iron  (at  the  present 
time  the  work  there  has  almost  ceased).  In  spite  of  this  the 
importation  from  abroad  (particularly  from  America)  of  ma¬ 
chines  and  metal  products  during  the  same  year,  1906,  was 
2,098,000  poods,  and  their  value  was  almost  17,000,000  gold 
rubles.  In  1907  the  imports  amounted  to  12,348,000  gold  rubles, 
(according  to  statistics  the  average  value  of  imported  metal 
products  per  person  in  the  total  population  of  the  province  was 
30  gold  rubles). 

The  following  is  a  table  of  industries  engaged  in  the  pro¬ 
duction  of  articles  from  the  mineral  resources  of  the  provinces. 


71 


No.  of 

Name  of  Industry  Enterprises 

Glass  Manufacturing.  .  1 

Pig  Iron  and  Machine 

Construction  .  5 

Brick  Manufacturing.  .  47 


No.  of 

Workers  Productivity 

30  20,000  poods  glass  prod. 

826,000  gold  rubles 
306  am’t  of  production 

167  63,000  gold  rubles 

am’t  of  production 


THE  MARITIME  AND  PRIAMUR  PROVINCES. 


The  Maritime  and  Priamur  Provinces  are  extremely  rich 
in  fish,  forests,  fur  animals,  coal,  iron,  and  silver-lead.  The 
Maritime  Province  is  bounded  by  the  ocean  on  one  side,  has  a 
navigable  river,  Ussuri,  which  is  a  tributary  of  the  Amur;  the 
city  of  Vladivostok,  the  gem  of  the  Par  East,  is  in  the  Maritime 
Province.  Through  Vladivostok  the  Maritime  Province  is  con¬ 
nected  by  means  of  the  Ussuri  Railroad,  with  the  Chinese 
Eastern  Railroad  and  the  Amur  Railroad.  Thus  there  were 
present  all  the  requisites  for  turning  the  Maritime  Province,  and 
particularly  its  southern  part,  into  an  industrial  center.  The 
development  in  that  direction  gradually  began,  but  for  general 
reasons  which  retarted  the  development  of  industry  in  the  Rus¬ 
sian  Far  East,  this  development  in  the  Maritime  Province  was 
retarded  as  well.  The  timber  industry  in  the  Maritime  Pro¬ 
vince  was  more  developed  than  in  the  other  Provinces.  Its 
turnover  during  the  year  1913  reached  3%  million  gold  rubles. 
At  one  time  there  were  in  operation  in  the  Maritime  Province  44 
saw  mills,  with  a  capacity  of  2,000,000  logs.  There  was  also 
a  furniture  factory,  box  factory,  and  veneer  factory,  a  match 
factory,  a  ship  building  plant,  and  a  railway  car  assembling 
plant.  The  production  of  tar  and  turpentine  reached  consider¬ 
able  size.  In  spite  of  the  abundance  of  flax,  oil  refining  was 
only  in  embryonic  stage,  and  there  is  no  doubt  that  in  the  future 
it  will  develop  into  a  large  industry.  The  same  is  true  of  the 
tobacco  industry.  The  steam  flour  mills  of  Vladivostok  pro¬ 
duced  large  quantities  of  flour  and  in  the  near  future  there  will 
begin  to  be  operated  a  new  large  flour  mill  for  the  milling  of 
Manchurian  w|heat  for  export.  The  development  of  animal 
products,  local  as  well  as  of  other  provinces,  and  partially  of 
Mongolia,  is  beginning  to  develop  and  promises  to  increase  in 


the  future.  A  new  tanning  plant  with  a  capacity  of  2,500 
hides  monthly,  recently  began  operations.  Of  enterprises  en¬ 
gaged  in  developing  minreal  rsources  there  have  been  in  opera¬ 
tion  cement,  brick,  and  glass  factories.  Recently  there  has  been 
completed  a  third  glass  factory. 

In  Vladivostok  there  is  in  operation  a  large  government 
owned  well  equipped  mechanical  and  ship  building  plant.  Lack 
of  capital  interferes  with  the  development  of  its  operation  on  a 
large  scale.  Another  large  government  machine  plant  is  in 
Khabarovsk.  There  are  about  20  foundries  and  pig  iron  plants 
which  are  mostly  engagend  in  machine  repairs,  but  so  far  they 
did  not  even  satisfy  the  local  demands.  On  the  Bay  of  St.  Olga 
a  large  iron  producing  plant  could  be  built,  as  there  are  very 
large  deposits  of  iron  ore  there.  From  there  it  would  be  pos¬ 
sible  to  supply  in  addition  to  the  Petrovsk  plant  located  in  the 
Pribaikal  Province  not  only  the  entire  Far  Eastern  Republic, 
but  also  Western  Siberia  and  part  of  European  Russia. 

There  are  three  industrial  centers  in  the  Martiime  and  Pri- 
amur  Provinces,  namely,  Vladivostok,  Khabarovsk  and  Nikolsk- 
Ussuriisk. 

The  total  turnover  of  the  factories  and  shops  of  Vladivostok 
during  the  year  1915  was  12,000,000  gold  rubles.  The  following 
table  gives  information  about  the  larger  factories  and  shops  in 
the  Maritime  Province. 

Some  of  the  distilleries  in  the  Republic  are  being  worked 
again  by  the  Goverment,  the  alcohol  being  used  for  technical 
and  medical  purposes.The  income  from  this  industry  to  the  Go¬ 
vernment  in  the  provinces  except  Maritime  amounts  to  one 
million  gold  rubles,  but  much  more  is  expected  in  the  near 
future. 


73 


No.  of 

No.  of 

Value  of  Production, 

Industry 

Plants 

Workers 

or  Capacity 

Saw  Mills*  . 

44 

700 

up  to  2,000,000  logs 

Paper  Mills  . 

1 

210 

3,600  poods  of  cardboard 

Furniture  . 

1 

900 

Box  . 

1 

15 

38,000  cu.  ft.  of  wood 

Veneer  . 

2 

320 

2,000,000  cu.  ft.  of  wood 

Ship  Building  . . . 

3 

1,025 

Pig  iron  &  machine 

20 

404 

up  to  2,200,000  gold  rubles 

Glass*  *  . 

2 

455 

30,000  poods  window  glass 

Brick . 

Soap  . 

6 

4 

580 

310,000  bottles 

1,100  poods  silicate 

13,000  poods  soap 

Tanneries***  .... 

3 

200 

1,100,000  pieces  toilet  soap 

40,000  hides 

Steam  Flour  Mills*  **  *  18 

3,500,000  poods  grain 

Oil  Refineries  .... 

8 

650 

15,600  poods  vegetable  oil 

Spirit  Distilleries . . 

3 

not  working  at  present 

Breweries  . 

13 

not  working  at  present 

Canneries*  *  *  *  * 

1 

60 

37,656  cans  of  crabs 

Tobacco  and 
Cigarettes  . 

11 

300 

4,000  poods  of  tobacco 

Electric  Power 

Plants  . 

11 

75,000,000  cigarettes 

300,000,000  paper  cases  for  cigarettes 

5,067,640  kilowatt 

Remarks: 

*At  the  present 

time 

the  number 

of  saw  mills  has  considerably  decreased. 

Only  28  or  30 

are  in 

operation. 

**  Recently  a  third  plant 

was  put  in 

operation. 

***Recently  a  fourth  plant  began  operation  with  a  producing  capacity  of  2,500 
hides  monthly. 

****A  new  large  steam  flour  mill  is  being  built. 

*****The  second  canning  plant  is  closed  at  the  present  time. 


74 


CHAPTER  X. 


EXPORTS  AND  IMPORTS. 

There  i s  no  exact  and  exhaustive  data  in  regard  to  the  ex¬ 
ports  and  imports  in  the  territory  at  the  present  time  occupied 
by  the  Far  Eastern  Republic,  from  which  a  definite  idea  can  be 
had  regarding  the  movement  of  merchandise  and  of  the  charac¬ 
ter  of  the  commercial  life  of  the  country.  The  figures  for  the 
years  1913-1917,  i.  e.,  for  the  pre-revolutionary  period,  are  gen¬ 
eral  figures  of  imports  to  Asiatic  Russia  as  a  whole,  i.  e.,  into 
the  present  territory  of  the  Far  Eastern  Republic  and  also  for 
further  transit  to  Siberia  and  Russia.  The  same  thing  is  true 
in  regard  to  exports.  It  does  not  seem  possible  to  exactly  de¬ 
termine  the  proportion  of  this  trade  which  can  be  applied  to  the 
territory  at  present  occupied  by  the  Far  Eastern  Republic.  These 
figures  are  characteristic  and  important  for  determining  the 
quantity  of  merchandise  which  in  general  was  received  and 
shipped  through  the  Russian  Far  East  (and  which  may  be  re¬ 
ceived  and  shipped  in  the  future),  whether  the  merchandise  was 
goods  in  transit  which  gives  an  income  to  the  customs  and  the 
railroads,  or  whether  it  was  goods  intended  for  the  Far  East. 
The  figures  for  1914-1917  (in  1914  only  partially),  include 
mostly  the  merchandise  which  was  shipped  to  Russia  through 
Vladivostok  in  connection  with  the  war  and  the  closing  of  the 
southern  European  Russian  frontier.  These  figures  are  inter¬ 
esting  as  they  indicate  the  significance  of  Vladivostok  as  a  port 
not  only  for  the  Far  Eastern  Republic,  but  also  for  Russia,  and 
as  an  indication  of  the  carrying  capacity  of  the  railroads  of  the 
Far  Eastern  Republic.  The  figures  for  1919,  1920,  1921,  the 
years  that  the  Russian  Far  East  began  to  live  an  independent 
life,  would  be  extremely  important  and  decisive  if  not  for  the 
fact  that  these  years  could  not  be,  under  any  circumstances, 
considered  as  normal;  in  1919  and  the  beginning  of  1920  mili- 


75 


tary  intervention  of  the  allies  and  civil  war  were  still  taking 
place;  during  the  rest  of  the  time  there  took  place  the  develop¬ 
ment  of  the  destructive  Japanese  aggression  which  absolutely 
violated  the  normal  development  of  life  in  the  country  and 
which  compelled  the  productive  Prussian  population  to  abandon 
peaceful  labors  and  to  shoulder  rifles  for  the  purpose  of  self- 
defense.  Thus  far,  in  1922,  the  situation  still  remains  abnormal 
in  view  of  the  fact  that  the  entire  important  province,  the  Mari¬ 
time,  has  been  cut  off  from  the  Par  Eastern  Republic,  by  the  Ja¬ 
panese,  and  part  of  the  mainland  on  the  lower  part  of  the  Amur, 
and  the  Island  of  Sakhalin,  were  seized  by  the  Japanese.  These 
factors  have  to  be  taken  into  consideration  when  the  figures 
that  are  presented  below  are  considered.  If  these  figures  do 
not  give  an  exact  picture  of  the  commercial  life  of  the  country, 
they  still  give  a  more  or  less  definite  approximate  idea  of  it, 
and  such  which  permits  the  drawing  of  certain  conclusions 
which  may  be  of  practical  significance. 

Merchandise  was  imported  into  the  Far  East  and  through 
it  to  Siberia  and  European  Russia  by  several  routes. 

1.  Through  Vladivostok,  and  then  through  the  Ussuri, 
Chinese  Eastern,  and  Siberian  Railroads. 

2.  Through  Nikolaevsk  on  the  Amur  and  then  along  the 
Amur  River  to  the  city  or  Sretensk  from  where  it  was  shipped 
by  railroad. 

3.  Through  Dairen  to  Harbin-Manchuria,  i.  e.,  Dairen, 
then  the  South  Manchurian  Railroad,  Chinese  Eastern  Rail¬ 
road,  and  Siberian  Railroad. 

4.  Through  Harbin  on  the  Sungari  River  to  the  Amur 
River,  and  further. 

5.  Through  Manchuria  from  Station  Pogranichnaya,  to 
the  Maritime  Province  (primarily  grain  products). 

The  same  routs  were  used  in  exporting.  The  principal 
routs  were  Vladivostok  and  Station  Manchuria.  Upon  examin¬ 
ation  of  the  figures  given  below,  the  following  is  evident:  ac¬ 
cording  to  the  information  of  the  customs  through  Vladivostok 
and  Nikolaevsk  during  the  year  1917,  there  was  brought  in 
from  abroad  merchandise  to  the  value  of  82,000,000  rubles  (all 
the  ruble  figures  are  in  gold).  The  importation  of  merchandise 
through  Nikolaevsk  in  1914  amounted  to  85,000  tons.  The  im- 


76 


portation  of  merchandise  through  Vladivostok  in  1913  amount¬ 
ed  to  420,000  tons;  during  1915,  about  400,000  tons  (value 
81,400,000  rubles)  were  brought  in.  The  imports  through  Sun¬ 
gari  to  the  Amur  during  1909  was  101,601  tons.  During  1910 
it  was  159,317  tons  (this  freight  was  mostly  intended  for  the 
Far  East,  the  greater  part  of  it  being  Manchurian  grain  and 
flour;  in  this  freight  was  also  included  transit  freight  of  8,000 
tons  of  Manchurian  beans  for  the  port  of  Nikolaevsk.) 

The  following  are  the  principal  figures  of  imports  for  the 
years  1913,  1914,  1916,  1917,  1918,  and  1920. 


Imports  from  1913  1914  1916  1917  1918  1919  1920 

in  gold  rubles ,  in  round  figures 

Japan  .  4,271,413  10,413,147  117,299,000  74,234,000  40,034,000  70,034,000  22,881,008 

China  .  52,120,000  38,411,000  94,389,000  92,660,000  20,006,000  57,901,000  34,455,000 

\m  erica  .  2,202,838  12,200,000  321,404,000  218,520,000  16,866,000  104,353,000  26,000,000 


Total  .  58,594,251  61,024,147  533,092,000  385,414,000  76,906,000  233,212,000  83,236,000 


The  figures  for  1913  and  1914  may  be  considered  as  prac¬ 
tically  normal.  The  large  figures  of  imports  for  1916  and  1917 
are  explained  by  the  war  conditions  as  everything  was  imported 
by  orders  of  the  War  Department.  1918  and  particularly  1919, 
and  the  beginning  of  1920,  as  already  mentioned,  are  the 
years  of  military  intervention  and  the  domination  throughout 
Siberia  of  Admiral  Kolchak.  Thus  imports  were  exclusively 
for  the  Far  East,  and  Siberia,  which  was  separated  from  Euro¬ 
pean  Russia  by  fighting  fronts.  Japan  and  America  brought 
in  their  freight  primarily  through  Vladivostok,  China  through 
Vladivostok  and  Nikolaevsk  and  Station  Manchuria,  (which  is 
the  land  frontier). 

The  situation  in  regard  to  exports  prior  to  1913  may  be 
seen  from  the  following  figures: 

EXPORTS  TO  CHINA  AND  THE  FAR  EAST  AND  THE  REST  OF  ASIATIC 
AND  EUROPEAN  RUSSIA  THROUGH  THE  FAR  EAST 
Route  1909  1910  1911  1912 

in  rubles 

Through  Station  Manchuria  8,000,000  11,600,000  12,200,000  15,500,000 

Through  Amur  Ports 

(Nikolaevsk  and  Blagvesh- 


chensk-Sakhalyan) .  200,000  400,000  600,000  600,000 

Through  Station 

Pogranichnaya  .  11,500,000  7,900,000  9,400,000  11,400,000 


22,200,000  27,500,000 


Total 


19,700,000  19,900,000 

77 


To  America  in  1912  there  was  exported  merchandise  to 
the  value  of  over  2,000,000  rubles,  and  to  Japan  somewhat  less. 

Altogether  through  Vladivostok  to  other  countries  there 
was  exported  during  the  year  1914  (not  counting  transit  goods), 
about  30,000  tons;  through  Nikolaevsk  over  38,000  tons.  Dur¬ 
ing  1915  through  Vladivostok  there  was  exported  over  46,000 
tons,  value  of  which  was  34,600,000  rubles.  When  more  de¬ 
tailed  figures  for  years  1913,  1914,  1916,  1917,  1918,  1919,  and 
1920  are  considered,  the  following  becomes  evident: 


Exports  to  1913  1914  1916  1917  1918  1919  1920 

in  gold  rubles,  in  round  figures 

Japan  .  750,486  1,025,695  1,774,000  3,775,000  4,367,000  4,925,000  3,832,000 

China  .  30,000,000  31,000,000  44,102,000  21,022,000  8,735,000  62,691,000  22,908,000 

America  .  2,356,527  2,200,000  8,000,000  4,000,000  8,000,000  14,000,000  22,000,000 


Total  .  33,107,013  34,225,695  53,876,000  28,797,000  21,102,000  81,616,000  48,740,000 


Note:  The  figures  regarding  China  are  taken  from  the  Chinese  customs  reports  which  are  given  In 
Haikwan  Taels.  The  taels  in  this  table  were  converted  into  yens  (and  rubles)  at  the  average 
rate  of  exchange  of  the  respective  years.  The  rate  of  exchnage  during  1916  in  yens  was  1.54 
yen;  1917 — 1.98  yenffi  1918 — 1.37  yen;  1919 — 2.72  yen;  1920 — 2.38  yen.  The  yen  then  is  taken 
to  be  equal  to  a  gold  ruble. 

Thus  the  commercial  turnover  with  Russia  through  the 
Far  East  was  as  follows: 


Year 

Imports 

Exports 

Turnover 

1913  . 

58,894,251 

33,107,013 

91,701,264 

1914  . 

61,024,147 

34,225,695 

95,249,842 

1916  . 

533,092,000 

53,876,000 

586,968,000 

1917  . 

385,414,000 

28,797,000 

414,211,000 

1918  . 

76,906,000 

21,102,000 

98,008,000 

1919  . 

233,212,000 

81,616,000 

314,828,000 

1920  . 

63,358,000 

60,640,000 

123,998,000 

If  the  articles  of  export  and  import  are  to  be  considered, 
the  following  is  the  situation:  In  1914  and  1915  there  were  ex¬ 
ported  from  Vladivostok  according  to  the  figures  of  the  Vladi¬ 
vostok  Chamber  of  Commerce  the  following: 


Article  1914  short  tons  1915 

Wheat  .  —  9,342 

Oil  Cakes  .  4,856  8,188 

Veneer  .  1,849  6,016 

Lumber  .  4,799  — 

Aspenwood  .  3,568  5,323 


Herring  fresh  .  —  3,051 


78 


Article 

1914 

short  tons 

1915 

Seaweed  . 

695 

1,417 

Oats  . 

72 

1,321 

Bran  . 

.  .  .  1,548 

1,213 

Sheep  Wool  . 

— 

1,114 

Grass  Seeds  . 

...  — 

852 

Fish  . 

.  .  .  1,791 

848 

Butter  . 

985 

641 

Beans  . .  .  . 

288 

594 

Fertilizers  . 

.  .  .  1,100 

587 

Camel  Hair  . 

.  — 

448 

Herring  preserved  . 

.  .  .  2,707 

410 

Zinc  . 

52 

229 

Others  . 

.  .  .  5,617 

4,747 

Total .... 

...  29,927 

46,341 

The  imports  during  1915  through  Vladivostok  besides  tea, 
which  was  imported  on  the  average  of  120,000,000  Russian  ibs., 
and  partially  through  Nikolaevsk,  were  as  follows: 

Article  short  tons  1915 


Acids  .  2,763 

Aluminum  .  513 

Ammonia  .  187 

Antimjony  .  4,772 

Asphalt  . . .  490 

Binder  Twine  .  9,927 

Boilers  .  846 

Building  Material . 3,514 

Biscuits  .  1,040 

Cattle  .  1,881 

Cement  .  4,789 

Chemicals  .  441 

Coal  .  84,006 

Copper  .  25,342 

Copper  manufactures  .  256 

Copra  .  10,867 

Cotton,  raw  .  58,747 

Cotton,  prepared  for  spinning .  410 

Drugs  .  436 

Dyes  .  423 

Dye  extracts  .  207 


79 


Article 


short  tons  1915 

Explosives  .  482 

Foodstuffs  .  5,845 

Fruits  .  9,704 

Grain  .  430 

Grinders  .  835 

Gums  .  4iJ3 

Iron  .  2,126 

Iron,  crude  .  1,501 

Iron  manufactures  .  974 

Iron  ships .  297 

Jute  .  301 

Jute  Bags  .  5,542 

Lead  .  14,917 

Leather  .  563 

Lumber  . .  .  423 

Machinery  .  7,888 

Manganese  Chlorate  .  315 

Miscellaneous  .  24,665 

Nuts  .  4,797 

Oils  .  200 

Paper  .  205 

Pepper  .  182 

Polishes  .  976 

Plants  . 1,604 

Potatoes  .  646 

Rice  .  19,791 

Rosin  .  947 

Rubber  .  3,397 

Salt  .  28,276 

Soda  .  772 

Sodium  .  2,101 

Spices  .  1,611 

Steel  .  412 

Steel  manufactures  .  408 

Sulphuric  Acid  .  187 

Sulphur,  refined  .  743 

Tallow  .  3,186 

Tanning  Materials  .  9,435 


80 


Article  short  tons  1915 


Tin  .  3,760 

Tin  Plates  .  3,058 

Tinned  Goods  .  311 

Turpentine  .  446 

Vegetables  .  7,020 

Vegetable  Oils  .  1,156 

Wax  .  205 

Wire  Manufactures  .  853 

Wooden  Goods  .  754 

Zinc  .  10,318 

Total .  396,915 


The  figures  regarding  the  exports  and  imports  by  countries 
are  somewhat  more  definite,  and  indicate  the  quantity  and  char¬ 
acter  of  the  trade,  of  a  given  country  (China,  Japan  and  Amer¬ 
ica),  with  Russia  through  the  Far  East. 

TRADE  WITH  JAPAN. 

During  the  years  1918  and  1919  the  following  merchandise 
was  imported  from  Japan  (in  1918  and  1919  merchandise  was 
mostly  for  the  Far  East  especially  during  1918.  During  1919 
some  of  the  merchandise  was  intended  for  a  part  of  Siberia 
where  foreign  troops  had  penetrated.) 


Article 

1918 

1919 

i  n 

yen  (or  gold 

rubles) 

Rice  . 

22,000 

165,000 

Refined  Sugar  . 

190,000 

45,000 

Coal  . 

468,000 

2,869,000 

Sulphur  . 

— 

2,000 

Cotton  Yarns  . 

265,000 

70,000 

Leather  Manufacturers . 

3,603,000 

3,655,000 

Cotton  Fabrics  . 

17,528,000 

18,878,000 

Woolen  Fabrics  . 

2,085,000 

4,146,000 

Knitted  Undershirts  &  Drawers 

206,000 

4,277,000 

Other  Knitted  Goods . 

529,000 

845,000 

Paper  . 

914,000 

3,304,000 

All  Other  (mostly  supplies  for 

the  military  dept.) 

14,222,000 

32,702,000 

Total . 

40,034,000 

70,958,000 

81 


If  these  totals  are  compared  with  the  totals  of  normal  years 
such  as  1913,  and  partially  1914  (the  large  imports  due  to  the 
war  began  only  in  1915)  it  will  become  clear  that  these  figures 
even  without  considering  the  war  munitions  (40,034,000 — 
14,222,000=25,810,000  for  1918;  and,  70,958,000—32,702,000 
=38,256,000  for  1919)  are  abnormal.  During  1913  the  im¬ 
ports  amounted  to  4,271,413  yen,  in  1914  to  10,413,147  yen. 

The  following  is  a  table  of  Japan’s  exports  to  Vladivostok 
by  years: 


Year  Amount  in  Yen  (or  Gold  Rubles) 

1913  .  4,271,413 

1914  .  10,413,147 

1915  .  78,299,178 

1916  .  177,299,478 

1917  .  74,234,145 

1918  .  40,034,435 

1919  .  70,958,261 

1920  .  22,880,772 


The  figures  of  Japanese  trade  during  the  first  four  months 
of  1921  show  the  imports  to  the  Russian  Far  East  of  only  2,750,- 
000  yen,  which  for  the  full  year  would  be  about  10,000,000  yen. 
These  imports,  considering  the  concentration  of  Japanese 
troops  in  the  Maritime  Province  and  Sakhalin,  and  their  with¬ 
drawal,  together  with  their  merchants,  from  the  Zabaikal  and 
the  Amur  region,  were  exclusively  for  the  Far  East,  and  prim¬ 
arily  for  the  Maritime  region.  Beyond  the  Far  Eastern  Re¬ 
public,  Japanese  merchandise  is  not  sold.  A  part  of  this  mer¬ 
chandise  was  intended  for  the  Japanese  army.  During  the 
first  nine  months  of  1921  the  Japanese  brought  in  through 
Vladivostok  the  following: 


Article  Quantity  in  long  tons 

Agricultural  Implements  .  194 

Breadstuffs  and  grain .  2,433 

Cement  . , . .  ..  619 

Chemicals  .  82 

Coal  .  4,802 

Cotton  and  manufactures  of .  494 

Fiber  .  297 


82 


Article 


Quantity  in  long  tons 


Fruits  and  nuts .  1,653 

Iron  and  Steel .  1,394 

Oil,  mineral  and  vegetable .  299 

Paints  and  varnishes .  68 

Poultry  and  eggs .  35 

Salt  , .  342 

Sugar  .  1,596 

Vegetable  Products  .  2,298 

Railway  Material  .  1,646 

Total .  18,262 


The  Japanese  imported  from  Siberia  through  the  Russian 
Far  East  during  the  years  1913-1920  inclusive,  as  follows: 


Year 


Value  in  Yen 


1913  .  750,486 

1914  .  1,025,695 

1915  .  3,564,492 

1916  .  1,774,216 

1917  .  3,775,281 

1918  .  4,366,624 

1919  .  4,924,980 

1920  .  3,831,648 


During  the  first  nine  months  of  1921  the  Japanese  ex¬ 
ported  through  Vladivostok  merchandise  valued  at  4,352,495 
rubles.  It  consisted  of  the  following  items: 


Article 

Chemicals  . 

Fish  and  Fish  Products 

Flax  . 

Flax  Seed  . 

Iron  and  Steel  . 

Rubber  Goods  . 

Silver  Ore  . 

Vegetable  Products.  . . . 
Wood  . 


Quantity,  in  long  tons 
1,919 
1,864 
835 
4,821 
9,204 
1,181 
194 
2,879 
13,830 
36,727 


Total . 
83 


It  must  be  noted  that  during  the  years  of  intervention  the 
Japanese  paid  least  of  all  attention  to  raw  materials.  They 
tried  to  export  primjarily  war  munitions,  and  in  general  war 
supplies  which  they  have  bought  for  almost  nothing,  taking 
advantage  of  the  abnormal  conditions  created  by  themselves. 
The  only  product  exported  by  the  Japanese  in  large  quantities 
is  fish,  which  was  purchased  from  the  population  of  Nikolaevsk 
on  the  Amur  or  which  was  caught  by  the  Japanese  themselves 
along  the  Okhotsk  and  Kamchatka  shores,  especially  the  Kam¬ 
chatka.  The  exports  of  fish  from,  the  Russian  Far  East  were 
as  follows: 


Year  Quantity  in  tons 

1912  .  98,355 

1913  .  129,476 

1914  .  92,400 

1915  .  54,267 

1916  .  61,667 

1918  .  78,683 

1919  .  42,117 


Since  1915  and  up  to  1917  there  were  exported  from  Ni¬ 
kolaevsk  to  Russia  instead  of  Japan  from  30,000  to  35,000  tons 
annually.  Most  of  the  fish  shown  in  this  table  prior  to  1915 
and  a  considerable  part  after  1915  was  exported  to  Japan. 

The  figures  in  regard  to  Japan  are  very  interesting.  These 
figures  show  that  the  exports  from  the  Russian  Far  East  to 
Japan  do  not  exceed  five  million  rubles.  The  only  product  in 
which  Japan  is  interested  is  fish.  In  regard  to  the  imports 
into  Siberia  in  normal  years,  the  figures  are  equally  eloquent, 
They  are  from  5,000,000  to  10,000,000  yen,  which  is  a  very  in¬ 
significant  part  of  the  total  Japanese  exports.  Thus  the  Ja¬ 
panese  cannot  explain  their  outrageous  aggressive  policy  by 
commercial  interests.  When  they  speak  of  the  danger  threat¬ 
ening  the  interests  of  their  merchants  they  are  saying  a  deliber¬ 
ate  falsehood,  as  their  commercial  interests  in  the  Russian  Far 
East  are  insignificant.  The  presence  of  Japanese  troops  only 
hurts  the  interests  of  Japanese  merchants.  The  whole  issue,  is, 
of  course,  an  effort  by  the  Japanese  to  seize  undeveloped  co¬ 
lossal  natural  resources,  and,  important  in  a  military  strategic 
sense,  the  territory  of  Sakhalin  and  the  lower  part  of  the  Amur. 


84 


The  number  of  ships  which  sailed  to  Japan  from  Siberia 
and  vice-versa  during  1918  and  1919  are  as  follows: 

Entered  Cleared 


Year 

No.  Ships 

Tonnage 

f 

No.  Ships 

Tonnage 

1918  . 

427 

521,000 

421 

520,000 

1919  . 

238 

293,000 

240 

295,000 

TRADE  WITH  CHINA 

The  commercial  turnover  with  China  is  considerably 
greater  than  with  Japan,  and  indicates  the  importance  of  China 
in  Russian  trade,  for  the  Russian  Far  East  as  well  as  for  the 
Asiatic  and  even  European  Russia  (especially  exports  of  tea). 
China  exported  to  the  Russian  Far  East,  and  through  it  to 
Russia,  during  1913,  merchandise  to  the  value  of  52,120,000 
rubles;  during  1914 — 38,411,000  rubles.  During  the  period  of 
1916  to  1920  China  exported  to  the  Russian  Far  East  and 
through  its  ports  and  frontiers  merchandise  oi  tne  following 


value : 

Through  1916  1917  1918  1919  1920 

(in  taels ) 

Russian  Pacific 

Ports  .  37,056,545  28,748,557  11,037,662  12,671,335  7,062,125 

Russian  Amur 

Ports  .  3,790,230  7,085,862  1,593,227  3,099,263  3,155,238 


By  Land  Frontier 

(Mainly 

Manchuria 

Station)  ....  -20,444,813  13,438,274  1,972,357  5,516,517  4,259,420 

Total  .  61,291,588  49,272,691  14,603,246  21,287,115  14,476,783 

This  is  on  the  average  of  32,000,000  taels,  and  if  the  aver¬ 
age  rate  of  exchange  of  the  tael  is  taken  for  the  five  years  at 
2.15  yen,  then  it  was  over  66,000,000  yen,  which  is  about  the 
same  amount  in  gold  rubles.  China  proper  exported  primarily 
tea,  grain  products  (for  the  Russian  Far  East),  cattle,  wool, 
hides.  Mongolia  exported  to  Russia:  cattle,  hides,  skins,  furs, 
wool,  and  other  animal  raw  products.  Imports  from  China 
proper  and  Mongolia  always  exceeded  the  exports  to  these 
countries. 

During  1913  China  imported  from  the  Russian  Far  East  mer- 

85 


chandise  to  the  value  of  30,000,000  gold  rubles,  and  in  1914 — 
31,000,000  gold  rubles. 


For  the  period  1916  to  1920  merchandise  exported  from 
Siberia  to  China  amounted  to  the  following  values: 


Through 

Russian  Pacific 

1916 

1917 

1918 

1919 

1920 

Porta  . 

18,588,221 

8,094,348 

4,676,830 

12,228,251 

5,732,681 

Russian  Amur  Ports 
Russian  Land 

314,505 

154,193 

265,008 

95,281 

380,577 

Frontier  (mainly 
Manchuria  Sta) 

6,735,186 

2,933,515 

1,434,106 

1,724,603 

3,511,835 

Total  . 

25,637,912 

11,182,056 

6,275,944 

14,048,135 

9,625,093 

This  is  an 

average 

of  13,000,000  taels, 

or,  at  the 

average 

rate  of  exchange  for  five  years,  2.15  yen  per  tael,  28,000,000 
yen,  or  about  the  same  amount  in  gold  rubles  (these  figures 
would  be  less  if  the  Far  Eastern  Republic  alone  was  to  be  con¬ 
sidered). 

China  imported  from  Russia  dry  goods,  cigarettes,  to¬ 
bacco,  ready  made  clothing,  arms,  machines,  railroad  mater¬ 
ials,  kerosene,  alcohol,  wines,  vodka,  footwear,  chinaware,  glass¬ 
ware,  sugar,  metals  and  their  products,  rubber  goods,  notions, 
electrical  supplies,  stationery  and  hardware.  Mongolia  im¬ 
ported  dry  goods,  metal  products,  etc.  (primarily  through  the 
highway  Peking-Kalgan-Kiakhta). 

These  items  of  imports,  because  of  the  difficulties  exper¬ 
ienced  by  Russia,  will,  in  the  next  few  years,  not  be  shipped  to 
China,  and  the  proportion  of  exports  from,1  China  to  Russia  as 
compared  with  the  exports  from  Russia  to  China  will  be  even 
greater. 

In  regard  to  the  Far  Eastern  Republic,  the  trade  relations 
with  China  are  interwoven.  A  considerable  part  of  the  trade 
of  the  Republic  is  in  Chinese  hands.  Manchuria  furnishes  the 
Far  Eastern  Republic  the  grain  products  and  fodder  in  which 
the  Republic  experiences  a  shortage.  Mongolia  furnishes  the 
necessary  cattle.  The  Republic  exports  to  China  furs,  lumber 
and  fish. 

During  the  first  nine  months  of  1921  there  was  exported  to 
China  through  Vladivostok  merchandise  to  the  value  of  2,148,- 
726  gold  rubles,  and  through  Stations  Manchuria  and  Blago- 
veshchensk-Sakhalyan  a  considerably  greater  amount  For  the 


86 


same  period  of  1921  the  Far  Eastern  Republic  imported  from 
China  through  Station  Manchuria  only,  merchandise  to  the 
value  of  6,383,188  gold  rubles,  and,  judging  by  the  increased 
imports  during  1922,  the  imports  from  China  will  be  at  least 
double. 

The  merchandise  exported  from  Vladivostok  to  China  dur¬ 
ing  the  first  nine  months  of  1921,  the  value  of  which  was  2,148,- 
726  rubles  consisted  of  the  following  items: 


Articles 

Chemicals  . 

Fish  and  Fish  Products 

Flax  Seed  . . . 

Iron  and  Steel . 

Rubber  Goods  . 

Vegetable  Products  .... 

Wood  . .  . . 

Wool  . 


Quantity — Long  tons 
2,812 
2,125 
23 
4,089 
818 
3 

1,662 

100 


Imports  from,  China  to  Vladivostok  for  the  same  period 
consisted  of  the  following  items: 


Article 

Agricultural  Implements 
Breadstuffs  and  Grain . . 

Cement  . 

Chemicals  . 

Coal  . 


Quantity  in  long  tons 
1 

228 

146 

79 

205 


Cotton  and  Manufactures  of .  170 

Fibre  . 179 

Fruits  and  Nuts .  1,089 

Iron  and  Steel .  1,193 

Meats  and  Dairy  Products .  1,008 

Oil,  Mineral  and  Vegetable .  400 

Paints  and  Varnishes .  7 

Poultry  and  Eggs .  787 

Salt  . 4,469 

Sugar  .  283 

Vegetable  Products  .  971 


Merchandise  imported  by  the  Far  Eastern  Republic  through 
Station  Manchuria  consisted  primarily  of  flour  and  grain,  gran- 


87 


ulated  sugar,  bean  oil,  tea,  millet,  dry  goods,  notions,  food 
stuffs,  light  metals,  tobacco  and  paper. 

The  Ussuri  Railroad,  and  particularly  Vladivostok  and  the 
Amur  shipping,  to  a  considerable  degree  depend  on  Manchur¬ 
ian  transit  freight,  primarily  beans,  which  are  shipped  through 
Vladivostok  and  Nikolaevsk,  for  the  various  foreign  markets. 
Thus  in  1914,  through  Vladivostok,  there  passed  387,341  tons 
of  such  freights  (including  12,843  tons  of  hempseed,  and  8,332 
tons  of  lumber),  and  during  1915  508,964  tons.  Through  Ni¬ 
kolaevsk  during  1913  there  passed  in  transit  20,000  tons  of 
beans,  and  figures  for  later  years  indicate  that  there  is  a  prob¬ 
ability  of  transporting  by  this  route  over  100,000  tons  during 
each  navigable  season. 

During  1920,  264  steamers  with  a  tonnage  of  117,636  tons 
arrived  in  China  from  the  ports  of  the  Russian  Far  East  and 
from  China  in  the  ports  of  the  Russian  Far  East  there  arrived 
245  steamers  with  a  tonnage  of  107,678  tons. 

TRADE  WITH  THE  UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA 

The  trade  between  the  United  States  and  the  Russian  Far 
East,  and  with  Russia  through  the  Russian  Far  East  prior  to 
the  War  did  not  attain  a  large  size.  The  exports  from  the 
Russian  Fas  East  to  the  United  States  in  1912  totalled  $1,443,- 
577;  in  1913,  $2,356,257.  The  imports  into  the  Russian  Far 
East  from  the  United  States  during  the  same  years  was  $1,206, 
828  and  $1,101,419  respectively.  With  the  beginning  of  the 
war  the  picture  changes.  The  Russian  Far  East  becomes  the 
principal  open  entrance  to  Russia,  and  the  United  States  be¬ 
gins  to  ship  all  sorts  of  merchandise  on  Russian  orders.  During 
the  year  1914  the  imports  from  the  United  States  were  only 
$6,000,000.  In  1915  they  attained  the  figure  of  $44,000,000,  in 
1916  $161,000,000,  and  in  1917  $109,000,000.  Trade  with  Rus¬ 
sia  after  she  drops  out  of  the  war  ceases  almost  entirely,  and 
the  imports  from  America  through  the  Far  East  during  1918 
amounted  to  only  $8,000,000.  During  the  latter  half  of  1918, 
armed  intervention  begins,  which  in  1919  results  in  Kolchak’s 
rule,  which  was  supported  by  interventionists.  The  imports 
from  the  United  States  during  1919  increase,  and  reach  the 
figure  of  $52,000,000.  In  March  of  1920  following  the  Cana- 


88 


dian,  French  and  British,  the  American  troops  withdraw,  and 
the  imports  for  that  year  drop  to  $13,000,000.  During  1921 
imports  from  the  United  States  to  the  Far  East  were  only  a 
little  over  $1,000,000. 

Exports  from  the  Russian  Far  East  to  the  United  States 
from  1914  to  1921  were  as  follows: 


Year  Value,  in  dollars 

in  round  figures 

1914  .  2,000,000 

1915  .  1,000,000 

1916  .  4,000,000 

1917  .  2,000,000 

1918  . 4,000,000 

1919  .  7,000,000 

1920  .  11,000,000 

1921  .  1,000,000 


The  most  active  years  in  regard  to  exports  from  the  Rus¬ 
sian  Far  East  were  1919  and  1920,  when,  evidently,  Americans 
succeeded  in  organizing  some  kind  of  local  trade  connections. 
Beginning  with  April  1920  begins  the  formal  existence  of  the 
Far  Eastern  Republic,  and  since  that  time  figures  for  the  im¬ 
ports  and  exports  are  given  only  for  the  territory  of  the  Far 
Eastern  Republic.  In  regard  to  importation  of  American  goods, 
it  is  necessary  to  point  out  that  the  given  figures  do  not  give 
the  total  quantity  of  American  merchandise  used  in  the  Far 
Eastern  Republic.  The  use  of  American  goods  is  much  greater 
having,  no  doubt,  entered  the  Republic  through  China,  prim¬ 
arily  through  Harbin. 

The  following  tables,  numbers  1,  2,  3,  4  and  5,  give  a  clear 
picture  of  the  quantity  and  character  of  American  exports  and 
imports  in  regard  to  the  Russian  Far  East  for  the  years  1912, 
1913,  -916,  1917,  1918,  1919,  1920,  and  1921. 


89 


Table  No.  1. 

Imports  into  the  United  States  from  the  Russian  Far  East 


Years  1912-1913 

Articles  1912  1913 

in  dollars 

Chemicals,  drugs,  dyes  and  medicine : 

Licorice  Root  .  165,985  286,365 

All  other .  24,021  30,439 

Furs  and  fur  skins,  undressed .  35,837  98,312 

Hides  and  skins  (except  fur  skins) .  29,528  51,364 

Manganese  oxide  and  ore  of .  229,406  693,812 

Wool,  etc. 

Unmanufactured  .  686,088  854,524 

Manufacturers  of,  carpets  &  carpeting  104,175  89,682 

All  other  articles .  168,537  252,029 


Total  Imports .  1,443,577  2,356,527 

Table  No.  2 


Exports  from  the  United  States  to  the  Russian  Far  East 


Years  1912-1913 

Articles  1912  1913 

in  dollars 

Domestic  Exports: 

Agricultural  implements,  and  parts  of  695,506  550,871 

Breadstuff  s : 

Wheat  flour .  7,357  26,377 

All  other .  4,374  6,076 

Cars,  carriages,  other  vehicles,  &  parts  of  387  1,386 

Chemicals,  drugs,  dyes  and  medicines. .  .  403  6,686 

Clocks,  and  watches,  and  parts  of .  150  145 

Cotton,  manufacturers  of .  10,960  11,884 

Fibers,  vegetable  and  textile  grasses,  ma¬ 
nufacturers  of: 

Twine,  binder .  75,838  122,736 

All  other .  5,195  1,167 

Fruits  and  Nuts .  57,941  31,192 

Instruments,  etc.  for  scientific  purposes..  95  32 

Iron  and  steel,  manufacturers  of: 

Builders’  hardware  and  tools .  30,059  16,472 


90 


Articles  1912  1913 

in  dollars 

Machinery,  machines,  and  parts  of .  .  .  134,076  66,335 

All  other  manufactures  of .  46,957  42,128 

Leather  and  tanned  skins,  and  manufac¬ 
turers  of .  1,578  6,304 

Meat  and  dairy  products: 

Beef,  pickled  and  other  cured .  .  1,181 

Milk,  condensed .  84,153  145,056 

All  other .  1,474  14,987 

Oils  .  276  2,287 

Paper  and  manufactures  of .  1,280  628 

Salt  .  261  39 

Soap  .  34  107 

Wood,  and  manufactures  of .  4,955  1,506 

All  other  articles .  41,331  43,344 


Total  Exports .  1,206,828  1,101,419 

Table  No.  3. 


Imports  into  the  United  States  from  Russia  in  Asia  (Siberia) 

1916-1918  (incl. ) 


Articles 

1916 

1917 

1918 

I  N 

D  0  L  L  A 

R  S 

Carpets  and  Rugs .... 

63,000 

240,000 

Fur  Dressed  . 

150,000 

188,000 

548,000 

Licorice  Root  . 

1,476,000 

184,000 

175,000 

Platinum  . 

— 

2000,000 

Sausage  Casings . 

802,000 

995,000 

202,000 

Seeds,  Grass  . 

334,000 

138,000 

52,000 

Seeds,  sugar  beet . 

1,058,000 

242,000 

62,000 

All  other  articles . 

252,000 

177,000 

936,000 

Total . 

4,140,000 

2,164,000 

3,975,000 

91 


Table  No.  4. 


Imports  into  the  United  States  from  Russia  in 


1920-1921 

Articles  1920 

I  N  D  0 

Animials,  Swine . 

Articles  specially  imported,  (other  than 

scientific  apparatus)  .  200 

Articles  ret’n’d  (other  than  automobiles)  1,087,255 

Art  works,  original  paintings,  etc .  912 

Bristles : 

not  sorted,  bunched  or  prepared.  . .  .  12,457 

sorted,  bunched  or  prepared .  25,401 

Chemicals,  drugs,  dyes,  medicines: 

Licorice  Root .  434,500 

Nitrate  of  Soda .  — 

All  other  .  — 

Coal  and  Coke 

Coal-Bituminous  .  300 

Coffee  .  26,400 

Fibres  and  Textile  Grasses,  n.  e.  s. 

Unmanufactured 

Flax,  hackled  “dressed  line”  .  12,357 

Other  .  419,812 

Woven  fabrics,  plain,  of  flax,  hemp,  or 

ramiie,  including  shrirting  cloth  .  1,791 

Woven  articles  and  mfrs  of  flax,  n.  e.  s.  2,131 

Fish: 

Cured  and  preserved  .  125 

Cured  and  preserved  .  11,012 

Fresh  Fish,  salmon  .  64 

Furs  and  fur  skins: 

Undressed  .  4,553,471 

Dressed  on  skin  .  10,869 

Dressed  and  manufactured  .  4,381 

Hair: 

Horse  .  99,544 

Other  animal  .  12,439 


Asia 

1921 
L  L  A  R  S 
200 


108,000 


2,247 

20,000 


245,822 

35,123 


46,483 


70 


341,752 

394 

245 


92 


Articles  1920  1921 

in  dollars 

Hides  and  skins  (except  fur  skins) : 

Calfskins 

dry .  159,231  — 

Green  or  pickled  .  33,867  — 

Cattle  hides 

Dry  .  109,354  — 

Green  or  pickled  .  173,400  — - 

Goatskins 

Dry  .  564,500  — 

Green  or  pickled  .  5,026  — 

Horse,  colt  &  Ass  Skins,  dry .  51,950  — 

Sheepskins 

Dry  . .  261,334  500 

Green  or  pickled .  56,720  — 

All  other  .  15,148  8,092 

Household  &  personal  effects,  &  wearing 

apparel  in  use,  etc .  7,159  709 

Ivory — animal,  tusks  in  natural  state ...  .  50,810  5,652 

Leather,  manufactures  of  .  64  — 

Mattings  and  mats  for  floors,  of  coco 

fiber,  rattan,  straw,  etc . . , .  .  2,737  — 

Meat  and  Dairy  Products 

Sausage  casings  .  847  — 

Minerals,  Crude,  etc.,  n.  e.  s. 

Manganese,  oxide  and  ore  of .  346,100  — 

Paints,  Colors,  Varnishes  .  —  6,218 

Phonogarphs,  graphaphones,  etc .  351  — 

Photographic  goods: 

Motion  pictures,  films,  positives,  etc. .  .  80  — 

Platinum,  unmanufactured  .  175,000  — 

Plumbago  or  graphite  .  19,370  — 

Precious  Stones .  4,872  — 

Seeds: 

Flaxseed  or  linseed  .  82,890  42,821 

Grass  seeds  .  754,800  — 

All  other  seeds  .  25,111  — 


93 


Articles  1920  1921 

in  dollars 

Silk: 

Wearing  Apparel  .  45  — 

Spices  .  4,601  — 

Wood,  Manufactures  of .  7  395 

Wool,  unmanufactured: 

Clothing,  wool .  272,351  — 

Combing  wool  .  62,381  — 

Carpet  wool  .  678,495  2,034 

Wool,  manufactures  of  .  —  — 

Carpets  and  rugs,  woven,  whole  ....  19,713  — 

Other  manufactures  of  .  33  — 

All  other  articles .  1,428  7,879 


Total 


10,655,196  874,491 


Table  No.  5. 


Exports  from  the  United  States  to  Russia  in  Asia 
1916-1921  inch 


Article 


Abrasives  . 

Agricultural  implements 

Hay  rakes  and  tedders . 

Mowers  and  reapers  . 

Plows  and  cultivators  . 

Binder  twine  . 

All  other  . 

Parts  of  . 

Asbestos,  mfrs  of  . 

Athletic  and  sporting  goods  . 

Brass  . 

BreadstufTs  . 

Cars,  automobiles  and  other  vehicles: 

Automobiles,  commercial  . 

Automobile,  passenger  . 

Cars,  freight  . 

Parts  of  passenger  automobiles 

(except  engines  and  tires)  . 

Cars  for  steam  railways  . 

All  other  vehicles  and  parts  of... 

Celluloid  and  mfrs  of . 

Chemicals,  drugs,  dyes,  etc 

Coal-tar  distillates  . 

Logwood  extract  . 

Medicinal  and  pharmaceutical 

prepar . 

Soda,  caustic  . 


1916 

1917 
(  I  N 

1918 

D  O 

351 

1919 

L  L  A  1 

7  995 

1920 

R  S  ) 

1921 

9,244  , 

582,000 

441,000 

524,854 

1,377 

25,580  . 

2,264,000 

704,000 

116  193 

719,303 

18 

409 

35,485 

8,927 

65,090 

24,863 

23,722 

62 

5,344 

3,433 

1,742 

4,998 

23,888 

2,029,067 

316,463 

3,806,000 

623,000 

18,200 

41,482 

18,491  . 

1,441,000 

419,000 

11,734 

52,145 

124,235  , 

7,994,000 

1,264,000 

198 

194,613 

18,265 

4,233 

1,333,367 

497,130 

3,241,171 

10,228 

191 

37 

6,293 

5,815 


.  417 

15,950 

24,600 

643 

12,573 

17,706  . . 

94 


Articles 

Soda,  ash  . 

All  other  chemicals  . 

Cocoa  and  chocolate,  prepared,  etc. 

Confectionary  . 

Cork,  mfrs  of  . 

Copper,  refined,  ingot9  . 

Cotton  mfrs  of  . 

Cotton,  unmfrd  . 

Earthern,  stone  and  chinaware. . . . 
Electrical  machinery  and  appliances: 

(except  locomotives)  . 

Dynamos  or  generators  . 

Interior  wiring  supplies,  includ¬ 
ing  fixtures  . 

Motors  . 

Switches  and  accessories  . 

Telegraph  apparatus  (including 

wiresless)  . 

Telephones  . 

All  other  . 

Explosives  (cartridges,  gunpowder, 

etc)  . 

Fibers,  vegetable,  mfrs  of  twine 

and  others  . 

Fish,  canned  . 

Fruits  . . . 

Glass  and  glassware  . 

Hats  and  materials  for  . 

Hops  . 

Household  and  personal  effects.... 

India  rubber,  mfrs  of . 

Ink  . 

Instruments  for  scientific  purposes. 
Iron  and  Steel : 

Bars  and  rods  of  steel . 

Bolts,  nuts,  rivets,  etc . 

Car  wheels  and  axles  . 

Cutlery  . 

Enamel  ware  . 

Firearms  . 

Hardware  . 

Hoop,  band  and  scroll  . 

Horseshoes  . 

Machinery  (except  locomotives) .... 

Locomotives  . 

Metal-working  machinery  . 

Mining  machinery  . . . 

Printing  presses  . 

Pumps  and  pumping  machinery.... 

Refrigerating  machinery  . 

Sewing  machines  . 

Textile  machinery  . 

Typesetting  machines  . 

Typewriting  machines  . 

Woodworking  machines  . 

All  other  machinery  and  parts  of 
Nails,  wood  screws,  needles . 


(IN  DOLLARS) 


1916 

1917 

1918 

6,082 

1919 

1920 

1921 

3,781 

135,549 

53,684 

1,231 

2,692 

69,844 

7,441 

3,079 

6,600 

40,200 

29,240 

4,307 

3,092,000 

871,000 

16,401 

2,537 

460 

127,382 

3,910,079 

1,955,990 

58,000 

12,820,000 

1,939,000 

16 

20,056  . 

5,975  22,773 


.  5,317 

2,210 

958 

167 

.  16,299 

25,622  . . 

.  11,040 

535  .. 

19,849 


9,658 

54,976 

4,298 

581 

70,341,000 

71,319,000 

360,073 

181,939 

69,154 

47,526 

193 

364,513 

12,093 

5,352 

16 

7,674 

2,279 

5,934 

1,503 

79,271 

37,831 

14,836 

324 

11,034 

3,969 

1,250 

3 

9,045  . 

16,474 

3,427 

1,262 

162 

34  838  . 

12,097 

558,025 

57,571 

3,310 

453 

11,335  . 

99 

6,164 

9,862 

858 

210,568 

16,209 

4,534 

2,865 

34,670 

7,043 

7,705 

8,550 

663,316 

94,320 

1,176 

83,603 

2,139 

337 

808 

61,625 

1,642,000 

771,000 

5,331,043 

8,405,739 

216,747 

30,746 

1,197 

77,900 

14,104 

7,374 

10,274 

5,917 

95 

153,580 

74,580 

4,947,320 

124,933 

120,094 

1,920,000 

5,364 

1,024,960 

3,416,893  . 

3,076,000 

1,799,000 

8,703 

157,840 

7,336  . 

146,906 

22,861 

92 

10,500 

95,600 

2  087 

1,232 

201  288  . 

38,500 

44 

210,405 

535 

3,487 

12,000 

18,650 

4,846 

2,296 

181,179 

20  040 

40,407 

12,693 

450 

43,030 

276,297 

237,811 

3,600 

207 

72,881 

4,240 

2,062 

95 


(IN  DOLLARS) 


Articles 

1916 

1917 

1918 

1919 

1920 

1921 

Pipea  and  fittings  . 

88,316 

2,681 

439 

12,099 

1  200 

Railway  track  material  . 

1,720,000 

2,110,000 

244,558 

780,066 

16,718  . 

Sheets  and  plates  . 

62,361 

4,095 

9,774 

Tin  plates,  and  mfrs  of . 

339,000 

119,000 

169 

11,327 

15,335 

337 

26,013 

269,152 

25,334 

12,973 

Wire,  barbed  . 

6,344,000 

416,000 

614,000 

286,000 

5,531 

15,767 

All  other  mfrs,  iron  and  steel . 

2,230 

69,335 

142,804 

10,710 

Lead  . 

1,664,000 

117,000 

51,262 

3,852 

15,847 

2,293 

Leather  and  mfrs  of : 

Sole  leather  . 

1,870,000 

2,447,000 

851 

2,040,504 

701,639 

155 

Shoes,  men’s  . 

2,917,000 

231,000 

168,822 

9,208,801 

1,343,233 

19,152 

All  other  . 

17,985 

798,762 

65,803 

7,398 

Meat  and  dairy  products . 

3,786 

45,939 

23,670 

11,190 

Motor  floats  . 

50,500 

Oils  (for  1920,  21  incl.  paints) .... 

72,491 

637,771 

1,145,817 

10,849 

Paper  . 

14,112 

218,536 

274,947 

2,893 

Photographic  goods 

(films  and  others)  . 

31,114 

67,484 

16,920 

514 

Soap  (toilet  and  other)  . 

2,275 

54,969 

14,793 

2,548 

Sugar,  refined  . 

1,673 

13,564 

32,045 

27,646 

Surgical  appliances  (not  including 

instruments)  . 

871,764 

245,174 

182 

Tin,  pigs,  bars,  etc . 

152,304 

Tobacco,  mfrs.  of  . 

54,149 

249,598 

98,319 

43,096 

Typewriter  ribbons  . 

7 

21,772 

3,423 

Vegetables,  canned  and  others.... 

532 

53,015 

31,789 

49,469 

Wood,  and  mfrs  of  . 

2,794 

8,152 

5,178 

5,366 

Wool,  mfrs  of  . 

7,515 

234,277 

2,331,104 

3,257 

Wearing  Apparel  . 

2,614,000 

400,000 

23,526 

3,370,194 

1,108,233 

30,400 

All  other  articles  . 

31,530,000 

15,374,000 

31,968 

826,767 

254,240 

141,936 

Total  exports  . 

160,702,000 

109,260,000 

8,433,069 

52,176,440 

13,280,886 

1,113,313 

Summary. 

If  the  actual  figures  of  imports  and  exports  of  the  Far 
Eastern  Republic  are  taken  into  consideration  since  the  organ¬ 
ization  of  the  Republic  in  1920,  then  the  following  situation 
becomes  clear: 


1920 

Country  Imports  from  Exports  to 

in  gold  rubles 

Japan  .  22,881,000  3,831,000 

China  .  34,455,000  22,908,000 

America  .  26,000,000  22,000,000 


Total....  83,236,000  48,740,000 


96 


As  was  indicated  above,  the  year  1920  should  not  be  con¬ 
sidered  in  any  degree  a  typical  year  for  the  movement  of  mer¬ 
chandise  to  the  Par  Eastern  Republic,  because  during  the  first 
three  months  of  that  year  American  troops  were  still  there  (not 
counting  the  Japanese  who  are  there  even  at  the  present  time, 
August,  1922).  Besides  Kolchak  was  overthrown  only  at  the 
beginning  of  1920  and  thus  the  year  1920  in  regard  to  exports 
and  imports  was  more  or  less  connected  with  1919,  when  the 
imports  and  exports  included  also  part  of  the  territory  of  Siberia 
which  is  not  included  in  the  Far  Eastern  Republic. 

Imports  into  the  Far  Eastern  Republic  in  1921 


Country  imported  from  Value,  in  rubles 

China  through  Manchuria  for  12  motnhs.  . .  .  6,386,188 

Japan  for  four  months  (through  Vladivostok)  2,750,000 
America  for  12  months .  2,000,000 


Total .  11,136,188 


In  the  above  table  are  not  included  figures  for: 

1.  The  amount  of  imports  from  China  through  Vladi¬ 
vostok  and  Blagoveshchensk. 

2.  Amount  of  imports  from  Japan  through  Vladivostok 
for  the  remaining  eight  mionths. 

It  may  be  considered  that  the  proper  amount  of  imports 
was  from  22,000,000  to  25,000,000  gold  rubles. 

During  the  year  1921  the  exports  from  the  Far  Eastern 
Republic  were: 

Country  Exported  To  Value,  in  rubles 

China,  through  Vladivostok  for  first  9  months  2,148,726 

Japan  for  first  nine  months .  4,352,495 

America  for  the  entire  year .  2,000,000 

European  Russia  .  1,982,368 

Other  Countries  .  138,505 


Total .  10,622,094 

This  table  is  also  incomplete,  as  the  following  figures  are 
not  available: 

1.  Exports  to  China  through  Vladivostok  for  the  last 
three  months  of  1921. 


97 


2.  Exports  to  China  through  Stations  Manchuria  and 
Blagoveshchensk. 

3.  Exports  to  Japan  for  the  last  three  months  of  1921. 

On  the  basis  of  figures  of  exports  to  China  and  Japan  for 

nine  months  through  Vladivostok  it  may  be  estimated  that  the 
exports  for  the  year  to  China  through  Vladivostok  were  about 
3,000,000  rubles;  to  Japan  about  6,000,000  rubles.  Exports 
to  China  through  Stations  Manchuria  and  Blagoveshchensk, 
taking  the  minimum  figures,  should  be  at  least  3,000,000  rubles. 
Thus  the  approximate  exports  of  the  Far  Eastern  Republic  dur¬ 
ing  the  year  1921  would  be  over  16,000,000  gold  rubles. 

The  general  information  for  1922  so  far  indicates  that  the 
imports  to  the  Far  Eastern  Republic  through  Station  Man¬ 
churia  only  will  be  at  least  double  that  for  1921.  The  exports 
from  the  Far  Eastern  Republic  during  the  year  1922  were  also 
greater  than  those  for  1921. 

Analyzing  the  quantity  and  kind  of  goods  exported  and  be¬ 
ing  exported  from  the  Russian  Far  East  (local  products,  not 
transit  freight),  it  may  be  stated  that  the  merchandise  is  prim¬ 
arily  local  raw  materials,  and  that  its  quantity  varies  a  great 
deal.  The  decisive  factor  for  the  last  few  years  was  purely 
political.  Of  the  principal  articles  of  export  may  be  men¬ 
tioned:  timber  (to  China  and  Japan),  furs  (to  America  and 
China),  casings  (to  America  and  other  countries),  flax  (to 
America,  China,  Japan  and  England),  wool,  various  sorts  (to 
America,  China  and  Japan),  hides  (to  China,  America,  and 
Japan),  bristle  (to  America,  Japan  and  China),  fish  (to  China 
and  Japan).  Besides  these  principal  objects  of  exports,  there 
are  being  exported  to  China  and  partially  to  Japan,  some  of  the 
accumulated  stock  of  such  merchandise  as:  rubber  goods,  iron 
and  steel,  chemicals.  Besides  these,  local  vegetable  products 
and  silver  ore  were  exported. 

The  imports  to  the  Far  Eastern  Republic  are  primarily: 
grain  products  from  China  and  breadstuffs  from  China  and 
America;  sugar  from  China,  Japan,  America;  cloth  from  Amer¬ 
ica  and  China;  agricultural  implements,  cars  (passenger  and 
freight),  electrical  appliances,  explosives,  india  rubber  products, 
iron  and  steel  (such  as  bolts,  nuts,  rivets,  nails,  car  wheels, 
axles,  cutlery,  firearms),  locomotives,  various  machinery,  (me- 


98 


tal  working,  wood  working,  mining,  pumping,  sewing  machines) 
railway  track  material,  tools  (all  these  mostly  from  America), 
chemicals  (America,  Japan),  manufactures  of  cotton  (America 
Japan),  leather  and  leather  products  (America,  Japan),  oils- 
mineral  and  others  (America,  Japan),  paper  (America,  Japan). 
The  rapid  development  of  trade  and  partially  of  industry  on  the 
territory  of  the  Far  Eastern  Republic,  and  the  growth  of  cul¬ 
tural  needs  of  the  population  indicate  the  gradual  growth  of 
the  size  of  the  market  of  the  Russian  Far  East  which  is  now 
existing  as  the  Far  Eastern  Republic.  The  development  of  the 
natural  resources,  which  is  slowly  and  gradually  progressing, 
will  still  more  increase  the  demands  of  the  market.  The  de¬ 
velopment  of  the  forest  and  mining  industries  will  require  a 
tremendous  quantity  of  machinery  and  materials.  Also  the  im¬ 
provement  in  transportation  on  land  as  well  as  on  water,  and 
the  construction  of  electrical  tramways,  the  building  of  sewers, 
telegraph  and  telephone  communications,  will  also  aid  in  the 
increase  of  the  demands  of  the  market  of  the  Far  Eastern  Re¬ 
public.  In  regard  to  the  conditions  of  the  export  market,  i.  e., 
in  regard  to  raw  materials  at  the  present  time  and  in  the  near 
future,  the  following  approximate  figures  may  be  given: 

The  following  items  can  be  exported  from  the  territory  of 
the  Far  Eastern  Republic: 

Fish — from  3,000,000  to  5,000,000  rubles  in  the  immediate  fu¬ 
ture  (after  the  liberation  of  the  Russian  territory  from 
Japanese  troops,  the  amount  may  again  increase  to  former 
proportions  25,000,000  to  35,000,000). 

Sea  weeds,  sea  cabbage,  oysters,  crabs  —  200,000  to  500,000 
rubles  (and  perhaps  more). 

Timber  (besides  aspen  logs) — 3,000,000  gold  rubles  (exports 
of  timber  will  be  increased  to  tens  of  millions  of  rubles 
when  the  large  virgin  forests  begin  to  be  exploited). 

Aspen  logs — 1,000,000  to  2,000,000  rubles  (may  be  higher). 
Furs — from  4,000,000  to  7,000,000  rubles  (the  average  figure 
of  2,000,000  to  3,500,000  pieces  of  furs;  the  number  used 
to  be  higher  and  with  the  carrying  out  of  the  proposed  plan 
of  furnishing  hunters  and  trappers  with  all  the  necessary 
food  supplies  and  equipment  by  the  government  of  the  Far 


99 


Eastern  Republic,  the  quantity  of  furs  may  be  increased 
considerably). 

Casings — on  the  average  500,000  rubles  (it  had  reached  up  to 

1,000,000). 

Flax — from  1,000,000  to  2,500,000  rubles  (the  amount  could  be 
increased  to  10,000,000). 

Wool — from  1,500,000  to  2,500,000  rubles. 

Hides — 500,000  rubles  (prior  to  the  war  over  150,000  poods  of 
hides  were  exported). 

Bristle  and  hair — from  400,000  to  700,000  rubles  (in  some  years 
up  to  1,000,000  rubles  and  more(. 

Honey  and  wax — 150,000  to  200,000  rubles. 

Not  taking  into  consideration  the  possible  exports  of  im¬ 
portant  minerals,  especially  after  the  development  of  the  min¬ 
ing  industry — the  development  of  the  tungsten,  silver,  lead, 
iron  and  other  ores,  coal  mines,  gold  mines,  and  other  mines, 
the  total  amounts  of  exports  of  raw  materials  which  had  been 
exported  and  which  are  being  exported  at  the  present  time  may 
equal  from  16,000,000  to  20,000,000  gold  rubles  annually.  Ad¬ 
ding  to  this  other  objects  which  have  been  exported  to  China 
and  Japan,  to  the  amount  of  from  3,000,000  to  5,000,000  rubles, 
the  total  possible  exports  should  be  from  18,000,000  to  25,000,- 
000  rubles.  With  the  re-establishment  of  the  fish  industry,  it 
may  reach  40,000,000  to  50,000,000  gold  rubles. 

Taking  into  consideration  the  unlimited  possibilities  pre¬ 
sented  by  the  vast  resources  of  the  country,  this  amount  is  not 
large,  especially  when  taking  into  consideration  the  necessity 
of  large  imports  owing  to  the  destruction  wrought  by  the  mi¬ 
litary  foreign  intervention.  These  imports  undoubtedly  will 
inevitably  exceed  the  exports  during  the  nearest  few  years. 


100 


CHAPTER  XI. 


THE  PROSPECTS  OF  THE  FAR  EASTERN  REPUBLIC. 

The  geographic  position,  its  means  of  communication  and 
position  occupied  by  it  as  a  transit  point  for  Russia  on  the  one 
hand,  and  for  Manchuria  and  Mongolia  on  the  other,  promises 
a  great  future  for  the  Republic  in  regard  to  transit  freight.  The 
railroad  lines,  the  Ussuri  and  the  Chita  (besides  the  Amur 
Railroad  which  so  far,  because  of  its  insufficient  organization 
and  its  great  length)  instead  of  a  deficit  which  is  had  from  then- 
operation,  due  to  the  presence  of  and  behavior  of  the  Japanese 
troops,  which  had  isolated  one  part  of  the  Republic  from  the 
other,  will  bring  a  considerable  profit. 

As  had  already  been  indicated  above,  up  to  650,000  tons  of 
Manchurian  beans  alone  were  shipped  annually  from  the  Chin¬ 
ese  Eastern  Railroad  to  the  Ussuri  Railroad.  Fish,  which  at 
the  present  time  is  again  being  exported  to  Siberia  and  Russia, 
will  have  to  be  exported  in  large  quantities,  which  will  reach 
tens  of  thousands  of  tons.  From  the  Far  Eastern  Republic 
will  also  pass  the  freight  carried  to  Asiatic  Russia  and  even  Eu¬ 
ropean  Russia,  as  well  as  the  export  freight  from  Siberia  and 
European  Russia. 

The  liberation  of  Nikolaevsk  by  the  Japanese,  and  the  com¬ 
plete  opening  of  the  river  outlet  to  the  sea  will  increase  still 
more  the  transit  capacities  of  the  Republic.  Manchuria,  with 
her  colossal  grain  wealth,  lacks  flour  mills  for  the  miling  >f 
the  grain.  The  shipment  of  the  grain  to  Vladivostok  in  the  past 
had  already  aided  the  development  of  the  flour  industry,  but 
greater  development  may  be  expected  in  the  near  future,  in 
connection  with  favorable  political  and  economic  conditions 
which  have  been  created  in  the  Far  Eastern  Republic.  Already 
at  the  present  time  there  has  been  organized  a  new  large  Rus¬ 
sian  Chinese  Flour  Milling  Company,  which  has  built  a  large 


101 


flour  mill  in  Vladivostok.  The  riches  of  the  neighboring  Mon¬ 
golia  in  animal  raw  materials  and  the  absence  there  of  any 
manufacturing  industry  will  give  an  opportunity  to  develop 
greatly  and  carry  on  on  a  large  scale  the  tanning  industry, 
soap  making,  candle  making,  and  other  affiliated  industries. 

If  to  this  should  be  added  the  wealth  of  the  Far  Eastern 
Republic,  itself,  in  animal  products,  as  shown  above,  then  the 
optimistic  expectations  in  regard  to  these  industries  may  be 
fully  justified.  Great  opportunities  are  open  to  the  lumber 
and  paper  industries.  The  300,000,000  acres  of  almost  virgin 
forests,  consisting  of  pine,  spruce,  cedar,  willow,  larch,  birch, 
oak,  aspen,  and  others,  make  the  future  of  the  lumber  industry 
secure.  According  to  calculations  of  experts,  the  organized 
and  complete  utilization  of  forest  resources  of  the  Far  Eastern 
Republic  alone  should  give  an  income  to  the  Government  of  the 
Far  Eastern  Republic  sufficient  for  the  covering  of  the  Govern¬ 
ment  expenses.  Cultivation  of  flax  which  began  so  success¬ 
fully  in  the  Republic  promises  to  become  a  large  and  important 
source  of  income  for  the  population.  Its  importance  will  in¬ 
creases  still  more,  after  the  peasants  have  been  taught  to  utilize 
it,  or  when  special  factories  are  built  for  the  utilization  of  the 
flax  fibre  which  at  the  present  time  is  being  thrown  away.  The 
abundance  of  mineral  riches  necessary  for  the  glass  making  in¬ 
dustry  make  certain  a  permanent  future  for  the  glass  industry. 
The  same  may  be  said  in  regard  to  the  match  manufacturing 
industry,  and  the  cement  industry.  The  fish  canning  industry 
also  has  a  great  future.  In  spite  of  all  these  opportunities 
creating  large  manufacturing  industries,  the  center  of  gravity 
in  the  Far  Eastern  Republic  will,  however,  for  the  next  ten  years 
lie  in  the  basic  industries,  that  is,  in  the  development  of  raw 
materials.  The  principal  place  in  this  regard  in  the  future  as  it 
was  in  the  past,  will  belong  to  the  gold  industry.  The  resources 
of  gold  which  are  valued  at  4,000,000,000  gold  rubles,  are  suffi¬ 
ciently  great  to  arouse  energy  on  the  part  of  the  Government 
and  private  capital,  Russian  and  foreign,  for  ite  development 
on  a  large  scale.  The  millions  of  tons  of  silver,  lead,  tin,  iron, 
copper,  coal,  tungsten,  bismuth,  oil,  and  other  minerals,  will 
also  draw  the  attention  of  those  interested  in  the  development 
of  these  minerals.  The  success  of  a  large  metallurgical 


102 


factory  is  assured  not  only  by  the  market  of  the  Far  Eastern 
Republic  which  comes  not  less  than  70,000  tons  annually,  but 
also  by  the  colossal  market  in  Northern  Siberia  and  Russia. 
Thus,  although  it  is  evident  from  the  figures  presented  above 
that  under  the  present  conditions  the  trade  balance  so  far  is 
not  in  favor  of  the  Far  Eastern  Republic,  nevertheless  the  pros¬ 
pects  are  such  that  this  balance  will  soon  become  one  favor¬ 
able  to  the  Far  Eastern  Republic.  The  energy  of  the  Govern¬ 
ment  is  directed  to  the  development  of  the  area  of  cultivation 
of  grain  and  intensification  of  agriculture  in  general,  so  that 
there  would  be  no  necessity  to  import  the  80,000  to  120,000 
tons  of  grain  products  which  had  to  be  imported  up  to  the  pre¬ 
sent  time.  Measures  are  also  being  taken  to  improve  the  equip¬ 
ment  of  the  coal  mines  and  to  increase  their  production  to  an 
extent  that  would  at  least  satisfy  the  requirements  of  the  Re¬ 
public.  The  improvement  of  these  two  industries  would  <X 
once  improve  the  trade  balance  of  the  Republic,  not  mention¬ 
ing  the  fact  that  the  increasing  of  oil  making,  candle  making, 
soap  making,  fat  melting,  glass  and  tanning  industries,  would 
aid  in  creating  a  healthy  commercial  industrial  life  of  the  Re¬ 
public. 

Judging  from  the  conditions  of  the  cattle  breeding  industry 
and  the  possibilities  of  improving  it,  the  Republic  may  also  be 
provided  with  its  own  meat,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  at  times 
the  importation  of  meat  to  the  Russian  Far  East  amounted  to 
10,000  and  20,000  tons,  and  sometimes  more.  The  city  po¬ 
pulation  (over  700,000  people)  may  easily  be  supplied  with 
meat  products  of  the  Far  Eastern  Republic,  as  follows: 


Quantity 

Animals  Poods  Heads 

Large  cattle  .  1,000,000  120,000 

Pigs  .  350,000  70,000 

Sheep  .  400,000  200,000 


a  total  of  1,750,000  poods,  or  about  30,000  tons,  not  counting 
the  fish,  game,  dairy  products  which  are  consumed  mostly  by 
the  rural  population. 

By  providing  the  population  with  the  essentials  or  food 
from  its  own  resources,  and  the  development  of  industries,  the 
purchasing  capacity  of  the  population  and,  with  it,  the  capacity 


103 


of  the  market,  would  increase  considerably,  and,  consequently 
the  imports  and  exports  would  also  increase.  The  imports  will 
especially  increase  in  regard  to  manufactured  products,  ma¬ 
chinery,  automobiles,  tractors,  etc.  The  increase  of  produc¬ 
tion  of  course  will  require  an  increase  in  population,  but  this 
problem  will  undoubtedly  be  solved  by  special  colonization  of 
of  the  country  by  peasants  and  other  classes  of  population  from 
Russia.  The  productivity  of  the  agricultural  population  in  the 
Russian  Far  East  according  to  the  statistics  gathered  prior  to 
the  war,  are  estimated  to  be  400,000,000  rubles.  The  value  of 
property  of  that  population  is  over  700,000,000  rubles.  The  ap¬ 
proximate  value  of  the  land  utilized  in  agriculture  (calculations 
made  on  the  basis  of  net  profits)  is  over  200,000,000  rubles;  the 
value  of  the  property  of  the  cities,  including  the  commercial 
and  industrial  enterprises  roughly  speaking  according  to  the 
valuations  of  the  Zemstvos  are  500,000,000  rubles.  The  value 
of  the  Government  property,  according  to  approximate  figures 
including  the  Government  factories,  shops,  barracks,  etc.,  are 
over  1,000,000,000  rubles. 

Prior  to  the  war  the  expenditure  of  the  centralized  and 
uneconomic  administration  of  the  Russian  Far  East  which  now 
comprises  the  Far  Eastern  Republic,  were  up  to  40,000,000  rub¬ 
les.  These  expenses  on  the  part  of  the  Czar’s  Government  were 
almost  never  covered,  although  some  years  the  deficit  was  not 
so  great.  The  deficit  is  explained  by  the  fact  that  at  that  time 
there  was  no  income  tax  and  no  land  tax.  These  taxes  were 
introduced  later,  and  undoubtedly  when  things  become  fully 
normal,  and  the  whole  territory  ^vill  be  under  the  authority  of  the 
Far  Eastern  Republic,  the  Government  revenue  will  cover  all 
the  expenses,  especially  so  when  the  heavy  burden  of  keeping 
a  big  army  will  be  disposed  of,  with  the  evacuation  of  the  Ja¬ 
panese  troops. 

Thus  these  few  facts  and  considerations  are  sufficient  to 
show  that  a  healthy  foundation  and  bright  prospects  are  con¬ 
fronting  the  Far  Eastern  Republic. 


104 


CHAPTER  XIL 


THE  COOPERATIVES  OF  THE  FAR  EASTERN  REPUBLIC. 

While  the  cooperatives  of  various  sorts  have  already  played 
an  important  part  in  the  economic  life  of  Russia  and  Siberia, 
those  of  the  Far  East  began  to  develop  only  a  few  years  ago. 
For  instance,  in  the  Maritime  Province,  the  first  credit  cooper¬ 
ative  organization  was  organized  in  1908,  and  the  first  con¬ 
sumers  cooperative  was  organized  in  1912.  The  World  War 
and  economic  disorganization  connected  with  it,  the  great  in¬ 
flation  of  prices  and  other  causes  compelled  the  population, 
rural  as  well  as  urban,  to  seek  a  solution  in  uniting  their  efforts 
and  in  collective  organization  of  supply  and  credits 

The  largest  of  the  unions  of  consumers  cooperatives  in  the 
Maritime  and  Priamur  Provinces — “The  Union  of  Priamur  Co¬ 
operatives” — began  to  function  with  a  stock  capital  of  1800 
rubles,  and  a  loan  of  300  rubles.  The  turn-over  of  the  union 
during  1916  was  1,705,000  rubies,  and  its  profits  were  22,000 
rubles.  During  1917,  in  spite  of  the  railroad  disorganization, 
and  a  shortage  of  goods  in  the  market,  the  union  sold  goods  to 
the  value  of  10,193,321  rubles,  of  which  the  local  market  con¬ 
sumed  merchandise  to  the  value  of  5,450,632  rubles,  and  to  Eu¬ 
ropean  Russia  it  shipped  for  other  cooperatives  merchandise 
to  the  value  of  4,743,281  rubles  up  to  January  1st,  1918. 

In  spite  of  the  fact  that  the  first  credit  cooperative  was 
organized  in  the  Maritime  Province  only  in  1908,  by  the  middle 
of  1913  there  were  23  organizations  with  6,449  members,  and 
a  capital  of  open  credits  of  553,724  rubles.  On  January  1st, 
1915,  there  were  already  67  credit  unions  serving  a  large  district 
or  rural  population  which  contained  44,000  peasant  holdings. 
The  loans  made  during  1913  amounted  to  241,000  rubles;  dur¬ 
ing  1914,  to  1,191,000  rubles.  Deposits  on  January  1st,  1914, 


105 


were  199,000  rubles;  January  1st,  1915 — 582,000  rubles.  On 
January  1st,  1917,  part  of  the  cooperative  associations  joined 
the  Priamur  Credit  Union  which  in  1919  already  had  united 
53  societies,  i.  e.,  the  greater  part  of  the  credit  societies  in  the 
Maritime  and  Priamur  Provinces.  The  same  thing  happened 
also  in  the  Amur  Province  as  well  as  the  Zabaikal  and  Pribaikal 
Provinces,  the  difference  being  that  in  the  two  latter  provinces 
the  cooperative  organizations  developed  earlier  than  in  the 
other. 

Up  to  1921  there  were  the  following  number  of  coopera¬ 
tives  of  the  first  stage,  i.  e.,  the  local  organizations  (not  com¬ 
binations  of  cooperative  organizations) : 


Cooperatives  of  the  First  Stage 

Province  Consumers  Credits  Producers  Selling  Mixed 

Amur  .  349  53  17  8  2 

Maritime  and  Priamur  .  163  64  10  3 

Zabaikal  .  320  80  ..  11 

Pribaikal  .  238  50 

Former  Sakhalin  Province 
(now  included  in  the 

Priamur  Province)  .  15  5  38  . .  20 


Total  .  1,085  252  65  22  22 


Thus  up  to  1921  there  were  already  on  the  territory  of  the 
Fax  Eastern  Republic  1,446  cooperatives  of  the  first  stage, 
which,  in  turn,  united  into  various  large  units.  In  1922,  at  a 
convention  of  cooperatives,  there  was  considered  the  question 
of  uniting  the  entire  cooperative  movement,  but  the  gradual 
realization  of  this  will  require  some  time  in  view  of  the  exper¬ 
iences  of  the  recent  years  in  which  there  was  so  much  destruc¬ 
tion  of  the  economic  life. 

As  is  evident  from  the  above  table,  the  predominant  type 
of  cooperative  organization  in  the  Russian  Far  East  is  the  con¬ 
sumers  cooperative  (75%).  Then  comes  the  credit  coopera¬ 
tives  (17%),  followed,  respectively,  by  the  producers,  sellers, 
and  mixed  cooperatives,  which  are  now  only  in  an  infant  stage 
(their  total  perecentage  is  8). 

In  the  Amur  Province,  for  instance,  there  are  three  small 
producers  (agricultural)  artels*.  There  are  being  organized 

*Artel=small  producers  cooperative. 


106 


artels  for  hunting,  and  gold  mining.  In  the  lower  part  of  the 
Amur  there  existed  prior  to  the  Japanese  intervention  in  Ni- 
kolaevsk,  up  to  140  fishermen’s  and  other  working  artels,  of 
which  at  the  present  time  there  remain  very  few.  In  the  Amur 
Province  there  are  seven  cooperative  flour  milling  societies,  of 
which  only  one  is  of  more  or  less  considerable  size.  There  are 
18  butter  making  artels  in  the  Maritime  Province  and  11  in  the 
Zabaikal  Province.  The  production  by  Cooperatives  in  the  Far 
Eastern  Republic  is  very  little  devedoped.  A  large  organiza¬ 
tion,  such  as  the  “Union  of  Priamur  Cooperatives,”  the  “Amur 
Cooperative  Union,”  and  the  “Zabaikal  Union,”  and  others, 
have  their  own  soap  making  plants,  tanneries,  flour  mills,  but 
all  of  them  are  of  a  small  size.  In  view  of  the  great  fall  in  the 
value  of  the  exchange  of  paper  rubles  in  1918  and  1919  (prior 
to  the  organization  of  the  Far  Eastern  Republic,  the  coopera¬ 
tives  were  compelled,  in  order  to  avoid  complete  loss  of  mediums 
of  exchange,  to  receive  in  exchange  for  merchandise  raw  mater¬ 
ials,  which  could  be  used  as  a  medium  of  exchange  for  purchases 
abroad.  The  turnover  of  millions  and  the  principle  and  busi¬ 
ness  capital  of  the  cooperatives  in  the  Far  East  were  consider¬ 
ably  decreased  in  connection  with  intervention  in  general,  and 
Japanese  aggression  in  particular.  Only  after  the  organization 
of  the  Far  Eastern  Republic  and  the  gradual  improvement  of  the 
economic  situation  did  the  conditions  of  the  cooperatives  be¬ 
gin  to  improve.  The  introducing  of  gold  as  a  medium  of  ex¬ 
change  and  the  refusal  of  the  Government  to  print  paper  money 
has  also  considerably  improved  the  conditions  of  the  coopera¬ 
tives.  The  most  important  work  in  the  cooperative  movement 
is  being  done  by  the  “Centrosoyuz,”  which  unites  all  the  Rus¬ 
sian  consumers  cooperatives,  and  the  “Sincredsoyuz,”  the  union 
of  credit  cooperatives.  Both  of  these  large  organizations  are 
performing  mixed  functions.  They  make  purchases  abroad, 
and  sell,  there,  peasant  products  of  Siberia.  Simultaneously 
they  are  helping  the  local  cooperatives  in  their  efforts  to  de¬ 
velop  the  local  industries,  and  have  plans  for  participation  in 
the  development  of  the  natural  resources  of  the  Far  Eastern 
Republic. 

According  to  the  figures  of  the  cooperative  organizations 
they  have  altogether  in  the  Far  East  350,000  members;  con- 


107 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS-URBANA 


sidering  on  the  average  three  persons  per  family,  the  cooper¬ 
atives  on  the  average  represent  over  1,000,000,  i.  e.,  about  50% 
of  the  entire  population. 

During  the  first  half  of  1922,  when  the  Government  of  the 
Far  Eastern  Republic  organized  the  “Bank  of  the  Far  Eastern 
Republic,”  which  is  supposed  to  aid  in  the  development  of  the 
commercial  and  industrial  life  of  the  country,  the  cooperatives, 
together  with  private  commercial  and  industrial  capital,  as 
represented  by  the  Chambers  of  Commerce  and  Industry,  took 
part  in  the  organization  of  that  bank,  subscribing  to  a  consider¬ 
able  part  of  the  stock  of  the  bank,  and  sending  its  reprseen- 
tatives  to  the  Board  of  Directors  of  the  Bank. 

Summarizing,  the  brief  and  general  information  about  the 
cooperative  movement  in  the  Far  Eastern  Republic,  it  may  be 
stated  that  the  cooperative  movement  is  playing  a  considerable 
part  in  the  economic  life  or  the  country,  and  it  may  be  pro- 
fesied  with  certainty  that  the  part  of  the  cooperative  movement 
as  a  factor  in  the  economic  progress  of  the  Far  Eastern  Re¬ 
public,  will  increase  from  year  to  year. 


108 


Publications  issued  by  the 

SPECIAL  TRADE  DELEGATION  OF  THE  FAR  EASTERN  REP"RLIC 
TO  THE  UNITED  STATES  OF  AMER.CA 


Washington,  D.  C. 

Constitution  of  the  Far  Eastern  Republic. 

Short  Outline  of  the  History  of  the  Far  Eastern  Republic. 

Japanese  Intervention  in  the  Russian  Far  East. 

Letters  captured  from  Baron  Ungern  in  Mongolia. 

Memorandum  of  the  Special  Delegation  of  the  Far  Eastern  Republic, 
Memorandum  to  the  Washington  Conference  on  Limitation  of  Armaments. 
Fishing  Industry  of  the  Far  Eastern  Republic. 

Forest  Resources  of  the  Far  Eastern  Republic. 

Fur  Industry  of  the  Far  Eastern  Republic. 

Gold  Resources  and  Gold  Mining  Industry  of  the  Far  Eastern  Republic. 
Mineral  Resources  of  the  Far  Eastern  Republic. 

Coal  Mining  Industry  of  the  Far  Eastern  Republic. 

Trade  and  Industry  of  the  Far  Eastern  Republic. 


► 


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